U.S. patent application number 14/103022 was filed with the patent office on 2014-05-08 for radio-resource management system and method thereof, and management apparatus, base station and terminal to be employed for it.
This patent application is currently assigned to NEC CORPORATION. The applicant listed for this patent is NEC CORPORATION. Invention is credited to Yasuhiko Matsunaga.
Application Number | 20140128123 14/103022 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32463505 |
Filed Date | 2014-05-08 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140128123 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Matsunaga; Yasuhiko |
May 8, 2014 |
RADIO-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREOF, AND MANAGEMENT
APPARATUS, BASE STATION AND TERMINAL TO BE EMPLOYED FOR IT
Abstract
Terminals and base stations belonging to service areas of plural
radio operators periodically measure a radio-link quality and an
availability ratio of a radio link and provide notification to a
radio-resource management server. The server alters a frequency of
the base station, and a transmitted-power quantity of the base
station and the terminal based on these measured results to improve
the radio-link quality, and reduce interference with a neighboring
radio system.
Inventors: |
Matsunaga; Yasuhiko; (Tokyo,
JP) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
NEC CORPORATION |
Tokyo |
|
JP |
|
|
Assignee: |
NEC CORPORATION
Tokyo
JP
|
Family ID: |
32463505 |
Appl. No.: |
14/103022 |
Filed: |
December 11, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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13648953 |
Oct 10, 2012 |
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14103022 |
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12882495 |
Sep 15, 2010 |
8315631 |
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13648953 |
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10735826 |
Dec 16, 2003 |
7826796 |
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12882495 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
455/522 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 36/14 20130101;
H04W 16/14 20130101; H04W 36/22 20130101; H04W 52/18 20130101; H04W
24/10 20130101; H04W 28/16 20130101; H04W 68/005 20130101; H04W
52/241 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
455/522 |
International
Class: |
H04W 52/18 20060101
H04W052/18 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Dec 24, 2002 |
JP |
2002-371876 |
Claims
1. A radio terminal in a wireless network system including a
radio-resource management apparatus for managing a radio resource,
and a plurality of radio base stations that utilize an identical
frequency band, said plurality of radio base stations belonging to
a plurality of respective different radio operators, said radio
terminal comprising: means for measuring a quality of a radio link
and providing said-radio-link quality measurement information to
said radio-resource management apparatus; and means for altering
transmitted power responsive to a transmitted-power control signal
from said radio-resource management apparatus, said
transmitted-power control signal based on said radio-link quality
measurement information.
2. The radio terminal according to claim 1, wherein said means for
providing makes notification at a predetermined notification
period.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 13/648,953, filed Oct. 10, 2012, which is a
divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/882,495 filed
Sep. 15, 2012, which in turn is a divisional of Ser. No. 10/735,826
filed Dec. 16, 2003, which is a national phase application that
claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-371876,
filed Dec. 24, 2002. The contents of each of these referenced
applications is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to a radio-resource management
system and a method thereof, a management apparatus, a base station
and a terminal to be employed for it, and a program thereof, and
more particularly to a technique of managing a radio resource
extending over networks of a plurality of radio operators in a
wireless network such as public mobile communication by a cellular
technique, and a wireless LAN.
[0003] In a conventional wireless network, each radio operator
installed radio base stations independently, and the radio resource
such as a frequency channel that the radio base station and a radio
terminal utilize, transmitted power of a radio link, and a transfer
rate was managed independently operator by operator. In the event
of the public mobile communication by the cellular technique, an
exclusive right to the use of a frequency band is normally given to
each operator as license, whereby no radio interference occurs
between the operators, and the management of the radio resource is
in a state because it is independently managed enterprise by
enterprise. In the event of assuming such an exclusive form of the
radio resource by the license, the radio-resource management to be
made by the radio operator becomes easy in the degree to which the
interference from the other radio operator does not need to be
considered.
[0004] In this case, however, even though a traffic demand is
remarkably less than forecasted in a network of a specific radio
operator, and there exists the radio resource excessively, it is
impossible to accommodate the other radio operator with its excess,
whereby the problem exists that availability efficiency of the
frequency goes down.
[0005] On the other hand, in the event of a wireless LAN system
employing a frequency band such as 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz that does not
necessitate the license, not only networks of a plurality of the
radio operators and private networks, but also the system other
than the wireless LAN utilizing the same frequency band hold the
radio resource in common. In the event of the wireless LAN,
conventionally, each radio system was isolated in many cases, and
there were few cases where intra-radio-system physical interference
occurred between the operators because the maximum transmitted
power was restricted at a relatively low level. Also, in operating
the wireless LAN within an enterprise, also in the event that the
wireless LAN areas overlap, to autonomously control the terminal or
the radio base station alone sufficed for a radio-resource
management method because it was relatively easy to realize
unification of a management policy.
[0006] For example, as a method of the terminal's selecting the
radio base station autonomously in the wireless LAN, there is a
method in which, responding to a radio-link quality that the
terminal measured, a load of the wireless LAN, and so forth, the
terminal selects the radio base station for connection, of which
the condition is best suitable for it (see patent documents 1 and
2).
[0007] Also, as an autonomous radio-resource management technique
by the radio base station in the wireless LAN, there is a method of
dynamically switching over an operational frequency channel of the
wireless LAN responding to noise and interference (see patent
document 3). Furthermore, as a technique of cooperatively managing
the radio resource by the terminal and the radio base station,
there is a method in which the radio base station stores statistic
information of the link quality for respective radio terminals, and
comes up with the other radio base stations that become a candidate
for a migration destination in the order of priority (see patent
document 4). [0008] [PATENT DOCUMENT 1] [0009] JP-P2001-298467A
(pages 6 and 7, FIG. 6) [0010] [PATENT DOCUMENT 2] [0011]
JP-P2001-274816A (pages 7 and 8, FIG. 4) [0012] [PATENT DOCUMENT 3]
[0013] JP-P2002-009664A (page 2, FIG. 1 and FIG. 2) [0014] [PATENT
DOCUMENT 4] [0015] JP-P2001-103531A (pages 2 to 5, FIG. 1 to FIG.
4)
[0016] These kinds of the autonomous radio-resource management by
the terminal or the radio base station are relatively easy of
realization, whereas the problem exists that they do not always
function as originally planned because there is restriction to
information that can be mutually notified between the wireless
networks of the plural operators having different operational
policies, and also, because the effect can be expected only when
almost all terminals and radio base stations correspond to the
autonomous radio-resource management.
[0017] In particular, the operator that provides an internet
connection service by the wireless LAN in a public space such as an
airport, an assembly fall, and a restaurant has rapidly increased
in recent years, and from now on, the situation is expected where
the service areas of the plural operators overlap inside the
identical public space. In this case, a plurality of the radio
operators mutually hold the radio resource in common, and as a
result, the interference of the radio occurs between the systems.
In the conventional autonomous radio-resource management technique,
each radio operator is to alter the frequency channel of the radio
base station, the transmitted power, the position of the radio base
station, etc. so as to avoid the interference based on limited
information that it can utilize; however optimal radio-resource
allocation is not always made in the entire system having the
plural operators brought together because information is limited.
Also, in the event that a load was concentrated on a specific
operator, such a scheme of distributing it among the operators did
not exist. Also, in such a manner, a scheme of managing the radio
resource of the plural operators in an integrated manner did not
exist, whereby the service responding hereto was also not
considered.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0018] The objective of the present invention is to provide a
radio-resource management system and a method thereof, a server, a
base station and a terminal to be employed for it, and a program
thereof that enable the radio resource, which is held in common, to
be optimally operated, by managing a wireless network quality of a
plurality of the radio operators in an integrated manner to alter
the frequency channel of the radio base station, the transmitted
power, the terminal to be accommodated, and so forth responding to
a necessity.
[0019] The radio-resource management method in accordance with the
present invention is characterized in including a control step of,
based on radio-link quality information to be notified from at
least one of a plurality of radio base stations and radio terminals
belonging to respective different operators, taking alteration
control of a frequency that said radio base station utilizes.
[0020] Another radio-resource management method in accordance with
the present invention is characterized in including a control step
of, based on radio-link quality information to be notified from at
least one of a plurality of radio base stations and radio terminals
belonging to respective different operators, taking
transmitted-power control for said radio base station.
[0021] Yet another radio-resource management method in accordance
with the present invention is characterized in including a control
step of, based on radio-link quality information to be notified
from at least one of a plurality of radio base stations and radio
terminals belonging to respective different operators, taking
distribution control of a load that is a radio terminal to be
accommodated in said radio base station.
[0022] An additional radio-resource management method in accordance
with the present invention is characterized in including a control
step of, based on radio-link quality information to be notified
from at least one of a plurality of radio base stations and radio
terminals belonging to respective different operators, detecting an
interference state between the enterprises to take
fault-notification control according to this detected result.
[0023] The radio-resource management apparatus in accordance with
the present invention is characterized in including control means
for, based on radio-link quality information to be notified from at
least one of a plurality of radio base stations and radio terminals
belonging to respective different operators, taking alteration
control of a frequency that said radio base station utilizes.
[0024] Another radio-resource management apparatus in accordance
with the present invention is characterized in including control
means for, based on radio-link quality information to be notified
from at least one of a plurality of radio base stations and radio
terminals belonging to respective different operators, taking
transmitted-power control for said radio base station.
[0025] Yet another radio-resource management apparatus in
accordance with the present invention is characterized in including
control means for, based on radio-link quality information to be
notified from at least one of a plurality of radio base stations
and radio terminals belonging to respective different operators,
taking distribution control of a load that is a radio terminal to
be accommodated in said radio base station.
[0026] An additional radio-resource management apparatus in
accordance with the present invention is characterized in including
control means for, based on radio-link quality information to be
notified from at least one of a plurality of radio base stations
and radio terminals belonging to respective different operators,
detecting an interference state between the enterprises to take
fault-notification control according to this detected result.
[0027] The radio base station in accordance with the present
invention, which is a radio base station in a wireless network
system including a radio-resource management apparatus for managing
a radio resource, and radio base stations belonging to a plurality
of respective different radio operators, is characterized in
including the means for: measuring a quality of a radio link to
notify radio-link quality information that is this measured result
to said radio-resource management apparatus; and in reply to
alteration-control notification of a frequency based on said
measured result from said radio-resource management apparatus,
taking alteration control of a service frequency.
[0028] Another radio base station in accordance with the present
invention, which is a radio base station in a wireless network
system including a radio-resource management apparatus for managing
a radio resource, and radio base stations belonging to a plurality
of respective different radio operators, is characterized in
including the means for: measuring a quality of a radio link to
notify radio-link quality information that is this measured result
to said radio-resource management apparatus; and in reply to
transmitted-power control based on said measured result from said
radio-resource management apparatus, taking alteration control of
transmitted power.
[0029] The radio terminal in accordance with the present invention,
which is a radio terminal in a wireless network system including a
radio-resource management apparatus for managing a radio resource,
and radio base stations belonging to a plurality of respective
different radio operators, is characterized in including the means
for: measuring a quality of a radio link to notify radio-link
quality information that is this measured result to said
radio-resource management apparatus; and in reply to
alteration-control notification of a frequency based on said
measured result from said radio-resource management apparatus,
taking alteration control of a service frequency.
[0030] Another radio terminal in accordance with the present
invention, which is a radio terminal in a wireless network system
including a radio-resource management apparatus for managing a
radio resource, and radio base stations belonging to a plurality of
respective different radio operators, is characterized in including
the means for: measuring a quality of a radio link to notify
radio-link quality information that is this measured result to said
radio-resource management apparatus; and in reply to
transmitted-power control based on said measured result from said
radio-resource management apparatus, taking alteration control of
transmitted power.
[0031] Yet another radio terminal in accordance with the present
invention, which is a radio terminal in a wireless network system
including a radio-resource management apparatus for managing a
radio resource, and radio base stations belonging to a plurality of
respective different radio operators, is characterized in
including: means for measuring a quality of a radio link to notify
radio-link quality information that is this measured result to said
radio-resource management apparatus; and base-station alteration
control means for, in reply to distribution control of a connected
radio terminal based on said measured result from said
radio-resource management apparatus, taking alteration control of a
connected base station.
[0032] The program in accordance with the present invention, which
is a program for causing a computer to execute a control operation
of a radio-resource management apparatus in a wireless network
system, is characterized in including a frequency control step of,
based on radio-link quality information to be notified from at
least one of radio base stations and radio terminals belonging to
respective different operators, taking alteration control of a
frequency that said radio base station utilizes.
[0033] Another program in accordance with the present invention,
which is a program for causing a computer to execute a control
operation of a radio-resource management apparatus in a wireless
network system, is characterized in including a transmitted-power
control step of, based on radio-link quality information to be
notified from at least one of radio base stations and radio
terminals belonging to respective different operators, taking
transmitted-power control for said radio base station.
[0034] Yet another program in accordance with the present
invention, which is a program for causing a computer to execute a
control operation of a radio-resource management apparatus in a
wireless network system, is characterized in including a
load-distribution control step of, based on radio-link quality
information to be notified from at least one of radio base stations
and radio terminals belonging to respective different operators,
taking load-distribution control of a load that is a radio terminal
to be connected to said radio base station.
[0035] An additional program in accordance with the present
invention, which is a program for causing a computer to execute a
control operation of a radio-resource management apparatus in a
wireless network system, is characterized in including a step of,
based on radio-link quality information to be notified from at
least one of radio base stations and radio terminals belonging to
respective different operators, making notification of occurrence
of a fault and the interference quantity, the transmitted-power
quantity that the radio base station should attenuate, and the
frequency that the radio base station should alter to a network
management server of the radio operator that is an interference
source in the event that radio interference having a pre-specified
value or more from the other radio operator was detected within a
network of a certain radio operator.
[0036] A further additional program in accordance with the present
invention, which is a program for causing a computer to execute a
control operation of a radio base station in a wireless network
system including a radio-resource management apparatus for managing
a radio resource, and radio base stations belonging to a plurality
of respective different radio operators, is characterized in
including the steps of: measuring a quality of a radio link to
notify radio-link quality information that is this measured result
to said radio-resource management apparatus; and in reply to
alteration-control notification of a frequency based on said
measured result from said radio-resource management apparatus,
taking alteration control of a service frequency.
[0037] Another program in accordance with the present invention,
which is a program for causing a computer to execute a control
operation of a radio base station in a wireless network system
including a radio-resource management apparatus for managing a
radio resource, and radio base stations belonging to a plurality of
respective different radio operators, is characterized in including
the steps of: measuring a quality of a radio link to notify
radio-link quality information that is this measured result to said
radio-resource management apparatus; and in reply to
transmitted-power control based on said measured result from said
radio-resource management apparatus, taking alteration control of
transmitted power.
[0038] Another program in accordance with the present invention,
which is a program for causing a computer to execute a control
operation of a radio terminal in a wireless network system
including a radio-resource management apparatus for managing a
radio resource, and radio base stations belonging to a plurality of
respective different radio operators, is characterized in including
the steps of: measuring a quality of a radio link to notify
radio-link quality information that is this measured result to said
radio-resource management apparatus; and in reply to
alteration-control notification of a frequency based on said
measured result from said radio-resource management apparatus,
taking alteration control of a service frequency.
[0039] Another program in accordance with the present invention,
which is a program for causing a computer to execute a control
operation of a radio terminal in a wireless network system
including a radio-resource management apparatus for managing a
radio resource, and radio base stations belonging to a plurality of
respective different radio operators, is characterized in including
the steps of: measuring a quality of a radio link to notify
radio-link quality information that is this measured result to said
radio-resource management apparatus; and in reply to
transmitted-power control based on said measured result from said
radio-resource management apparatus, taking alteration control of
transmitted power.
[0040] Another program in accordance with the present invention,
which is a program for causing a computer to execute a control
operation of a radio terminal in a wireless network system
including a radio-resource management apparatus for managing a
radio resource, and radio base stations belonging to a plurality of
respective different radio operators, is characterized in including
the steps of: measuring a quality of a radio link to notify
radio-link quality information that is this measured result to said
radio-resource management apparatus; and in reply to distribution
control of a connected radio terminal based on said measured result
from said radio-resource management apparatus, taking alteration
control of a connected base station.
[0041] The radio-resource management system in accordance with the
present invention is characterized in including: means for
collecting a link quality, a link availability ratio, and a link
communication speed of a radio link from at least one of radio base
stations and radio terminals belonging to a plurality of respective
different operators; and price decision means for deciding a price
at which a communication service via a network of each of said
plurality of said operators is offered to an external network
responding to these collected results to notify it to said external
network.
[0042] Another radio-resource management system in accordance with
the present invention, which is a radio-resource management system
including a radio-resource management server that a radio-resource
manager possesses, and radio facilities of a radio communication
operator that made a management contract with this radio-resource
manager, is characterized in that said radio-resource management
server includes: fault process means for supervising a
communication status of said radio communication operator to
perform a fault process for said radio resource in reply to
occurrence of a fault; and fee charging means for charging a
management service fee of said radio resource to said radio
communication operator.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0043] This and other objects, features and advantages of the
present invention will become more apparent upon a reading of the
following detailed description and drawings, in which:
[0044] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the radio-resource
management system in the first embodiment of the present
invention;
[0045] FIG. 2 is a schematic functional block diagram of the radio
base station in the first embodiment of the present invention;
[0046] FIG. 3 is an operational flowchart of the radio base station
in the first embodiment of the present invention;
[0047] FIG. 4 is a view illustrating contents of the radio-link
measured information to be transmitted from the radio base station
to the radio-resource management server in the first embodiment of
the present invention;
[0048] FIG. 5 is a schematic functional block diagram of the radio
terminal in the first embodiment of the present invention;
[0049] FIG. 6 is an operational flowchart of the radio terminal in
the first embodiment of the present invention;
[0050] FIG. 7 is a view illustrating contents of the radio-link
measured information to be transmitted from the radio terminal to
the radio-resource management server in the first embodiment of the
present invention;
[0051] FIG. 8 is a schematic functional block diagram of the
radio-resource management server in the first embodiment of the
present invention;
[0052] FIG. 9 is an operational flowchart of the radio-resource
management server in the first embodiment of the present
invention;
[0053] FIG. 10 is an operational flowchart at the moment that the
radio-resource management server performs the frequency alteration
control for the radio base station in the first embodiment of the
present invention;
[0054] FIG. 11 is an operational flowchart (part 1) at the moment
that the radio-resource management server performs the
transmitted-power control for the radio base station in the first
embodiment of the present invention;
[0055] FIG. 12 is an operational flowchart (part 2) at the moment
that the radio-resource management server performs the
transmitted-power control for the radio base station in the first
embodiment of the present invention;
[0056] FIG. 13 is a view illustrating each relation of the radio
base-station lists (NB_list), (NB_list1), and (NB_list2) in FIG. 10
and FIG. 11;
[0057] FIG. 14 is an operational flowchart at the moment that the
radio-resource management server controls the radio terminal in
order to make the load distribution between the radio base stations
in the first embodiment of the present invention;
[0058] FIG. 15 is an operational flowchart at the moment that the
radio-resource management server notifies the occurrence of the
fault in the radio link to the network management server in the
first embodiment of the present invention;
[0059] FIG. 16 is an operational flowchart of the radio terminal in
the second embodiment of the present invention;
[0060] FIG. 17 is an operational flowchart of the radio terminal in
the third embodiment of the present invention;
[0061] FIG. 18 is a view illustrating contents of the radio-link
measured information to be transmitted from the radio base station
to the radio-resource management server in the fourth embodiment of
the present invention;
[0062] FIG. 19 is an operational flowchart of the
intra-radio-base-station load distribution in the fourth embodiment
of the present invention;
[0063] FIG. 20 is a configuration diagram of the radio-resource
management system in the fifth embodiment of the present
invention;
[0064] FIG. 21 is a schematic block diagram of the radio-resource
management server 40 in the fifth embodiment of the present
invention;
[0065] FIG. 22 is an operational flowchart of the radio-resource
management server in the sixth embodiment of the present
invention;
[0066] FIG. 23 is an operational flowchart of the radio-resource
management server in the seventh embodiment of the present
invention;
[0067] FIG. 24 is a view illustrating an example of the tenant
building for realizing the business model of the eighth embodiment
of the present invention;
[0068] FIG. 25 is a view illustrating an operational sequence of
the radio-resource management system for realizing the business
model in the eighth embodiment of the present invention;
[0069] FIG. 26 is a functional block diagram of the radio-resource
management server for realizing the business model in the eighth
embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[0070] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be
explained in details by referring to the accompanied drawings. In
FIG. 1 is shown a configuration of the radio-resource management
system in a first embodiment of the present invention. A service
area 100 of a radio operator A, a service area 101 of a radio
operator B, and a service area 102 of a radio operator C exist in a
partially-overlapped state, and a radio-resource management server
40 manages the radio resource in a unified manner that these three
operators hold in common. Herein, assume that each of the operators
mutually makes a contract for roaming with the other so that
respective radio terminals can freely roam among these service
areas 100 to 102 for continuing communication, and this roaming
allows each of the service areas to interpolate the other. Also,
each operator may employ the configuration having a network
management server for an operator within the network (In FIG. 1, a
network management server 60 of the radio operator A is shown as
one example).
[0071] Radio terminals 10 and 11, which are connected to a radio
base station 20, make data communication via radio links 201 and
202 in the service area 100 of the radio operator A. Radio base
stations 20 and 21 are connected to a cable network 30 of the radio
operator A via cable links 300 and 301 respectively, and further
connected to a radio-resource management server 40 and an external
network 50 via cable links 310 and 320 respectively.
[0072] Radio terminals 12 to 14, which are connected to a radio
base station 22, make data communication via radio links 203 to 205
in the service area 101 of the radio operator B. The radio terminal
12 is connectable to both of the radio base station 22 of the radio
operator B and the radio base station 21 of the radio operator A;
however, herein it is connected to the radio base station 22 of the
radio operator B. The radio base station 22 is connected to a cable
network 31 of the radio operator B via a cable link 302, and
further connected to the radio-resource management server 40 and
the external network 50 via cable links 311 and 312
respectively.
[0073] A radio terminal 15 that is connected to a radio base
station 23, and radio terminals 16 and 17 that are connected to a
radio base station 24 make data communication via radio links 206
to 208 respectively in the service area 102 of the radio operator
C. The radio terminals 15 and 16 are connectable to both of the
radio base station 22 of the radio operator B and the radio base
stations 23 and 24 of the radio operator C; however, herein they
are connected to the radio base stations 23 and 24 of the radio
operator C respectively. The radio base stations 23 and 24 are
connected to a cable network 32 of the radio operator C via cable
links 303 and 304 respectively, and further connected to the
radio-resource management server 40 and the external network 50 via
cable links 312 and 322 respectively.
[0074] FIG. 2 is a schematic functional block diagram of the radio
base station, wherein down-direction user data (packet data), for
which a transmission process is performed by a transmission section
69, is transmitted to the radio terminal via a transmit-receive
shared unit 61 and an antenna. A radio wave received from the
antenna is supplied to a reception section 62 through the
transmit-receive shared unit 61, and up-direction user data and
various kinds of control information including a pilot signal, etc.
are derived. The quality and the availability ratio of the radio
link are measured by a link-quality measurement section 64 and a
link availability-ratio measurement section 65 respectively based
on these kinds of the user data and the control information. Also,
a neighboring radio base station that becomes an object of
notification to the radio-resource management server is decided to
measure information relating to the above decided neighboring radio
base station in an interference-quantity measurement section 66. As
one example of how to decide this, there is a method of deciding it
based on the level of the radio wave received from the neighboring
radio base station to be later described.
[0075] The various kinds of the measured information transmitted
from the radio terminal are detected in a radio terminal
measured-result detection section 67, and this detected result and
the results measured by the link-quality measurement section 64,
the link availability-ratio measurement section 65, and the
interference-quantity measurement section 66 are synthesized in a
data synthesis section 68, and notified as radio-link measured
information 600 to the radio-resource management server via a
communication section 73. Also, various messages to be obtained
from the radio-resource management server via the communication
section 73 are analyzed in a message analysis section 74, and this
analyzed result is supplied to a control section 71 that is a CPU.
The control section 71 controls a reception control section 63 and
a transmission control section 70 according to this analyzed
result, and performs the process such as frequency-alteration
control and transmitted-power control to be later described. In
addition, a memory 72 can be a memory for work of the CPU, and can
be a memory having an operational control program filed.
[0076] In FIG. 3 is illustrated an operational flowchart of the
radio base station in a first embodiment of the present invention.
At first, the radio base station performs an initialize process
after a boot, acquires information such as the frequency channel,
the transmitted power, an address of its own station, and an
address of the radio-resource management server, and performs
various configurations (step 401).
[0077] Next, the radio base station starts a timer T1 (step 402),
and comes into a wait state of an event (step 403). This timer T1
is for designating a period at which the measured result of the
radio link is notified from the radio base station to the
radio-resource management server, and its period is a variable
value that can be set radio base station by radio base station.
After the radio base station acquired radio-link quality
information of its own station (step 404), radio-link
availability-ratio information (step 405), and interference
information from the neighboring radio base station that became an
object of notification to the radio-resource management server
(step 406) whenever a time-out of T1 occurs, it transmits the
measured result to the radio-resource management server (step 407),
and then returns to a wait state of an event after restarting the
timer T1.
[0078] Next, in the event that the radio base station received a
radio-resource control message from the radio-resource management
server (step 409), it performs a frequency-channel alteration
process (step 411) if the control content is a frequency-channel
alteration request (step 410), and alters the transmitted power to
a designated value (step 413) if it is a transmitted-power
alteration request (step 412). Normally, a transfer process of data
is independent from these control messages, and a packet transfer
process is performed between the cable link and the radio link, and
between the radio link and the cable link (steps 414 to 416).
Furthermore, at the time of shutting the radio base station down,
the process is finished after the finish process was performed
(steps 417 and 418).
[0079] In FIG. 4 is an illustrated content of radio-link measured
information 600 to be transmitted from the radio base station to
the radio-resource management server in the first embodiment of the
present invention. The radio-link measured information 600 is
configured of radio-link quality information of its own station
610, radio-link availability-ratio information of its own station
620, a number of a neighboring radio base station 630, and
information 640, 650, 660, . . . of radio interference with
neighboring radio base stations 1, 2, 3, . . . . These kinds of the
radio-link quality information, the radio-link availability-ratio
information, and the radio interference information can be referred
to as radio-link quality information in a mass. That is, this
radio-link availability ratio also can be referred to as quality
information because there rises congestion, and communication
quality deteriorates when the radio-link availability ratio becomes
large, and also, needless to say, the interference information
falls into a category of the quality information.
[0080] In the radio-link quality information of its own station 610
are included a radio operator identifier 611, a radio base-station
identifier 612, a frequency channel 613, installment-location
latitude information 614, installment-location longitude
information 615, a received-packet error ratio 616, and a
transmitted-power level 617. For example, in the event of the
wireless LAN, Service Set ID (SSID) is employed for the radio
operator identifier 611, and an MAC (Media Access Control) address
of the radio base station for the radio base-station identifier 612
respectively. The frequency channel 613 is represented by a channel
number allocated for each radio system, or the frequency itself
thereof is represented in a unit of kHz.
[0081] The attitude/longitude information of the installment
location is used only in the event that the radio base station has
these kinds of information. A Global Positioning System (GPS), a
PHS technique, etc. are considered as means for acquiring this
attitude/longitude information. Also, it is possible that a person
who installs the base station measures it manually. The
received-packet error ratio 616 indicates a rate at which a CRC
(Cyclic Redundancy Check) error occurred as against the packets
received from the radio terminals under the base station during the
measurement period, and as to the transmitted-power level, a power
level at which the radio base station is transmitting the power
toward the radio terminal is represented in a unit of dBm.
[0082] In the radio-link availability-ratio information of its own
station 620 are included a physical speed of a radio link 621, an
accommodated radio terminal number 622, an average transmission
rate 623, an average reception rate 624, a peak transmission rate
625, and a peak reception rate 626. The accommodated radio terminal
number 622 indicates the number of the radio terminals connected
under the above radio base station. The average transmission rate
623 and the average reception rate 624 are average bit rates
obtained by dividing the bit number transmitted/received during the
measurement period via the radio link by the measurement period,
respectively. On the other hand, the peak transmission rate 625 and
the peak reception rate 626 indicate the maximum bit numbers
transmitted/received for any one second during the measurement
period respectively.
[0083] A number of a neighboring radio base station 630 indicates
the number of the radio base stations to be included in the
radio-link measured information 600, out of the other radio base
stations that can be detected in the above radio base stations.
That is, the other base stations, from which the level of the radio
wave received in the above radio base station is equal to or more
than a predetermined threshold, are taken as "other radio base
stations that can be detected in the above radio base station", and
"the number to be included in the radio-link measured information
600" out of the number of these other base stations is a number of
the radio base stations from which the received level is equal to
or more than a second threshold obtained by setting the threshold
of the level received in the above radio base station to be yet
higher. By transmitting only information relating to the other
radio base stations having the possibility of interfering with its
own station to the radio-resource management server, the aim of
reducing the traffic quantity to prevent the congestion of the
network is realized.
[0084] The radio base station may not always notify all the
detected information of the other radio base stations to the
radio-resource management server. In the information 640 of radio
interference with the neighboring radio base station 1 are included
a radio operator identifier 641, a radio base-station identifier
642, a frequency channel 643, a received-power level 644, and a
ratio of a received signal: noise 645. What this means is the same
as the description concerning the radio-link quality information of
its own station 610. As a matter of fact, the interference quantity
from the other radio base stations is found from the total of the
received-power levels from the other stations in the frequency
channel identical to that of its own station.
[0085] Next, the radio terminal will be explained. FIG. 5 is a
schematic functional block diagram of the radio terminal, wherein a
down-direction signal received from the antenna is supplied to a
reception section 76 via a transmit-receive shared unit 75, and
user data and various control signals are derived. These user data
and various control signals are input into a link-quality
measurement section 78, a link availability-ratio measurement
section 79, an interference-quantity measurement section 80, and a
message analysis section 81 respectively. The quality of the radio
link is measured in the link-quality measurement section 78, the
availability ratio of the radio link in the link availability-ratio
measurement section 79, and the interference quantity in the
interference-quantity measurement section 80, respectively. Also,
various messages from the radio-resource management server are
analyzed in the message analysis section 81. As the case may be,
the above messages are transmitted via the radio base station.
[0086] A control section 83 that is a CPU takes various kinds of
control for a reception control section 77 and a transmission
control section 86, i.e. frequency-alteration control,
transmitted-power control, base-station alteration control, etc. in
according to the analyzed result of this message. The foregoing
various kinds of measured information are synthesized with
up-direction user data by a transmitted-data synthesis section 82,
and is supplied to a transmission section 85. The synthesized
information for which the transmission process is performed by this
transmission section 85 is transmitted in the up direction via the
transmit-receive shared unit 75. In addition, a memory 84 also can
be a memory for work of the CPU 83, and can be a memory having a
control program of the above radio terminal filed.
[0087] FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the radio
terminal in the first embodiment of the present invention. The
radio terminal performs an initialize process after a boot, sets
the frequency channel and the transmitted power for connecting to
the neighboring radio base station, and acquires an address of its
own station and an address of the radio-resource management server,
etc. for performing various configurations (step 421). Next, the
radio terminal starts a timer T2 (step 422), and comes into a wait
state of an event (step 423). A value of this timer T2 decides the
period at which the measured result of the radio link is notified
from the radio terminal to the radio-resource management
server.
[0088] After the radio terminal acquired the quality information of
the radio link to the radio base station during communication (step
424), the availability-ratio information of the radio link to the
radio base station during communication (step 425), and the quality
information (interference information) of the link to the
neighboring radio base station (step 426) whenever a time-out of T2
occurs, it transmits the measured result to the radio-resource
management server (step 427), and then returns to a wait state of
an event after restarting the timer T2 (step 428).
[0089] Next, in the event that the radio terminal received the
radio-resource control message from the radio-resource management
server (step 429), it alters the transmitted power to a designated
value (step 431) if the control contents is a transmitted-power
alteration request (step 430), and it makes handover to the
designated radio base station (step 435) if the control contents is
a radio base-station alteration request (step 432). At this time,
in the event that the radio-resource control message requires a
roaming that extends over the radio operators (step 433), it
performs a radio operators alteration process such as
authentication responding to a necessity (step 434). In the event
that normal data was input into the radio terminal, the
transmission/reception process is performed for the packet (steps
436 to 438), and in the event that the shutdown process was
initiated, the process is finished after the finish process was
performed (steps 439 and 440).
[0090] FIG. 7 is a view illustrating contents of radio-link
measured information 700 to be transmitted from the radio terminal
to the radio-resource management server in the first embodiment of
the present invention. The radio-link measured information 700 is
configured of quality information of a radio link to a radio base
station during communication 710, availability-ratio information of
a radio link to a radio base station during communication 720, a
number of a neighboring base station 730, and quality information
740, 750, 760, of radio interference with neighboring radio base
stations 1, 2, 3, . . . .
[0091] The quality information of a radio link to a radio base
station during communication 710 is configured of a radio operator
identifier 711, a radio base-station identifier 712, a frequency
channel 713, a received-power level 714, a ratio of a
received-signal: noise 715, a received-packet error ratio 716, and
a transmitted-power level 717. In the availability-ratio
information of a radio link to a radio base station during
communication 720 are included an average transmission rate 721, an
average reception rate 722, a peak transmission rate 723, and a
peak reception rate 724.
[0092] Also, in the quality information 740 of radio interference
with the neighboring radio base station 1 are included a radio
operator identifier 741, a radio base-station identifier 742, a
frequency channel 743, a received-power level 744, and a ratio of a
received-signal: noise 745. The meaning that this notification
information has is the same as the explanation of FIG. 4.
[0093] The radio-link measured information 700 shown in FIG. 7 to
be transmitted from the radio terminal to the radio-resource
management server and the radio-link measured information 600 shown
in FIG. 4 to be transmitted from the radio base station to the
radio-resource management server have the partially duplicated part
such as the numbers of the neighboring radio base station 630 and
730, and the frequency channels 613 and 713.
[0094] Also, upon taking the total sum of the availability-ratio
information of a radio link to a radio base station during
communication 720 collected from each radio terminal radio base
station by radio base station, its value is due to be equal to the
radio-link availability-ratio information of its own station 620
that the radio base station measured. Furthermore, information of
radio interference with a neighboring radio base station 640 to 660
that the radio base station measured also can be estimated to a
certain extent from information of interference with a neighboring
radio base station 740 to 760 that the radio terminal measured. For
example, by assuming that the radio terminals are uniformly
distributed in the adjacent area of the radio base station to
average the levels received from the neighboring radio base
stations that a plurality of the radio terminals measured, it is
possible to estimate the interference quantity from the neighboring
radio base station that the radio base station to which the radio
terminal belongs receives.
[0095] The reason why the radio-link measured information to be
collected is caused to have redundancy as mentioned above is to
realize the operation in a system wherein are mixed the
conventional radio base station and radio terminal that have
neither radio-link measurement function, nor function of
notification to the radio-resource management server as described
in this embodiment.
[0096] For example, in the event that a radio terminal group having
the notification function of the radio-link measured information
shown in FIG. 7 exists under the conventional radio base station
having no notification function of the radio-link measured
information shown in FIG. 4, the radio-resource management server
can estimate the radio-link quality and the availability ratio by
radio base station, and the degree of the interference with the
other radio base station from the radio-link measured information
700 collected by the above radio terminal group. Also, conversely,
in the event that the conventional radio terminal having no
notification function of the radio-link measured information shown
in FIG. 7 exists under the radio base station having the
notification function of the radio-link measured information shown
in FIG. 4, the frequency alteration process, the transmitted-power
control process, and the load-distribution control process can be
executed in the radio-resource management server, based on the
radio-link measured information collected mainly from the radio
base station.
[0097] In addition, a communication protocol is optional for
transmitting the radio-link measured information 600 and 700 from
the radio base station or the radio terminal to the radio-resource
management server. For example, as a protocol suitable for
transmitting such network management information, there is an SNMP
(Simple Network Management Protocol, RFC 2570-2576). Also, the
transmission of the measured information 700 from the radio
terminal to the radio-resource management server may be performed
via the radio base station or may be performed without going
through it. In the event of transmitting the measured information
700 via the radio base station, by getting the measured information
700 together in the radio base station from the radio terminals
that are subordinates thereof to transmit it to the radio-resource
management server, efficiency can be realized.
[0098] FIG. 8 is a schematic functional block diagram of the
radio-resource management server. A control section 87 is a CPU
that takes control of each section according to a program filed in
a ROM 90 of a memory 88. The memory 88 has a RAM 89 that is a
memory for work for the CPU 87, and the foregoing ROM 90. A
frequency-alteration control section 91 has a function of taking
alteration control of the frequency channel for radio base station,
and a transmitted-power control section 92 has a function of taking
control of the transmitted power for radio base station. Also, an
intra-base-station load-distribution control section 93 has a
function of taking distribution control of the intra-base-station
load, and a radio-link fault-occurrence notification control
section 94 controls notification of the fault occurrence to the
radio base station. A communication section 95 has a function of
making communication with the radio base station and the radio
terminal. Each section thereof is connected to a bus 96 in
common.
[0099] In FIG. 9 is illustrated an operational flowchart of the
radio-resource management server in the first embodiment of the
present invention. After the radio-resource management server
performed an initialize process (step 451), and after it started
four timers of T3, T4, T5, and T6 (step 452), it comes into a wait
state of an event (step 453). T3 designates the period at which the
alteration control process (step 454) is performed of the frequency
channel of the radio base station. T4 designates the period at
which the transmitted-power control process (step 456) is performed
for the radio hags station. T5 designates the period of control
(step 458) for the radio terminal. Also, T6 designates the period
at which the fault-notification process (step 460) is performed at
the moment that excessive interference was detected from the radio
base station.
[0100] These processes are performed independently with a time-out
of the timers T3 to T6. In addition hereto, in the event that the
measured information was received from the radio base station or
the radio terminal (step 462), a process for retaining the measured
result is performed, and in the event that the shutdown was
initiated, a finish process (step 464) is performed.
[0101] In FIG. 10 is illustrated an operational flowchart at the
moment that the radio-resource management server performs the
frequency-alteration control of the radio base station in the first
embodiment of the present invention. The radio-resource management
server reads out information of the radio base station retained at
the moment that the radio-link measured information was received in
the order filed from a head radio base station by radio base
station (step 471). Next, the radio-resource management server
lists the neighboring radio base stations utilizing a frequency
channel (F_cur) identical to that of its own station 613 from the
read-out information, and acquires a radio base-station list
(NB_list) that is composed of these neighboring radio base stations
(step 472).
[0102] Next, a total (I_cur) is calculated of the received-power
levels 644 of the radio base-station group belonging to this radio
base-station list (NB_list) (step 473). In addition, the total of
this received-power levels is equivalent to the interference
quantity. Next, the total of the received-power levels for each of
all frequency channels that its own station can utilize is found
from the read-out information to assume it to be an interference
quantity of its channel. And a total (I_tar) of received-power
levels from the neighboring radio base stations is acquired in a
frequency channel (F_min) of which the interference quantity is few
(step 474). Herein, in the event that a difference of the
interference quantity I_cur-I_tar is larger than a predetermined
threshold I_fth (step 475), after the radio-resource management
server transmitted the radio-resource control message to the
selected radio base station, and instructed it to make the
frequency-channel alteration from F_cur to F_min (step 476), it
deletes information on the radio base station of which the
frequency channel was altered from the memory (step 477). When the
radio base-station information that had to be read out ran out, the
process is finished (step 478).
[0103] As a modified example of the process of the foregoing steps
474 to 476, the following technique also can be considered. That
is, in the event that the total of the received-power levels found
in the step 473 is larger than the total of received levels of the
other radio base stations in the frequency other than the frequency
that is currently utilized, out of the frequencies that the
selected radio base station can utilize, the means is adapted so as
to make an alteration to the frequency other than this frequency
that is currently utilized.
[0104] Here, the interference not only from the system of the
identical radio operator but also from that of the different radio
operator is included in the interference quantity (the total of the
received-power levels) from the neighboring radio base stations. In
performing this frequency alteration process, it is desirable that
the value of the timer T3 is set to be significantly long, or that
the timer T3 is adapted to be started to the time when the system
is hardly utilized because the radio terminals under the radio base
station become all incapacitated temporarily. Also, in the
above-mentioned explanation, computation of I_cur and I_tar was
performed in a radio base-station frequency control process 454 of
FIG. 9; however the above computation may be performed in a
measured-result retention process 463 at the moment of retaining
the measured result.
[0105] In FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 is illustrated an operational
flowchart at the moment that the radio-resource management server
performs the transmitted-power control of the radio base station in
the first embodiment of the present invention. Also in this case,
the radio-resource management server sequentially reads out the
radio base-station information from a head radio base station by
radio base station (step 481). Next, the radio-resource management
server acquires a radio base-station list (NB_list) having the
neighboring radio base-station group utilizing a frequency channel
(F_cur) identical to the frequency channel that the selected radio
base station (its own station) utilizes listed (step 483), acquires
a list (NB_list1) indicating the radio base-station group belonging
to the radio operator identical to the radio operator to which the
selected radio base station belongs, out of the radio base stations
to be included in this radio base-station list (NB_list) (step
484), and also, acquires a list (NB_list2) indicating the radio
base-station group that belongs to the radio operator different
from the radio operator to which the selected radio base station
belongs, and yet is controllable by the radio-resource management
server (step 485).
[0106] The reason why the radio base station is limited to the
radio base-station group that is controllable by the radio-resource
management server is that it is necessary to use only the result
measured by the radio base station that is controllable by the
above server because the measured result of the radio link was
transmitted to the above server from all radio base stations
including the radio base station that is uncontrollable by the
above server, and these measured results were all retained within
the above server.
[0107] In addition, a relation of these radio base-station lists
(NB_list), (NB_list1), and (NB_list2) mentioned above is
illustrated in FIG. 13.
[0108] Herein, the radio-resource management server switches on a
transmitted-power reduction flag FL_down for the base station, of
which the received level exceeded a threshold IC_pc1, and of which
the current transmitted power is equal to or more than the lower
limit value out of the radio base stations to be included in this
radio base-station list (NB_list1) for taking control as as to
reduce the interference quantity (step 486). Also, it similarly
switches on the transmitted-power reduction flag FL_down for the
base station, of which the received level exceeded a threshold
Ic_pc2, and of which the current transmitted power is equal to or
more than the lower limit value, out of the radio base stations to
be included in the list (NB_list2) (step 487).
[0109] The reason why the threshold of the interference quantity is
sorted out between the identical radio operator and the radio
operator other than it is that it is necessary to suppress quantity
of the interference with the other radio operator at a lower level
than that within the identical radio operator. In such a manner,
after the radio base stations of which the level received in the
other radio base station exceeded the threshold were all listed,
the process proceeds to an actual transmitted-power control process
(FIG. 12). The retained radio base-station information is
sequentially read out from a head base station by base station
(step 488), and if the transmitted-power reduction flag FL_down of
the selected radio base station is on (step 489), the
radio-resource control message is transmitted to the selected radio
base station to instruct it to reduce the transmitted power by
Delta_P1 (step 490).
[0110] On the other hand, in the event that FL_down was off in the
step 489, if the transmitted power of the selected radio base
station is equal to or less than the upper limit value (step 491),
the radio-resource control message is transmitted to the selected
radio base station to instruct it to increase the transmitted power
by Delta_P2 (step 492). In such a manner, raising the transmitted
power as highly as possible so long as no interference occurs
allows a covered range of the network of the radio operator to be
spread.
[0111] In FIG. 14 is illustrated a flowchart of an operation in
which the radio-resource management server gives the radio terminal
an instruction of the handover, and makes load distribution between
the radio base stations in the first embodiment of the present
invention. At first, the radio-resource management server
sequentially reads out the retained radio base-station information
from a head base station by base station (step 501), and acquires a
number N_m of the radio terminals that a selected radio base
station BS1 accommodates (step 502). This accommodated radio
terminal number N_m is the accommodated radio terminal number 622
in the radio-link measured information 600 shown in FIG. 4.
[0112] In the event that the number N_m of the radio terminals that
were being accommodated exceeded an allowable threshold (N_th) that
is the maximum number of the radio terminals that can be
accommodated in a radio base station BS1, i.e. N_m>N_th (step
503), the radio-resource management server selects the radio base
stations, which belong to the operator, identical to the operator
to which the selected radio base station belongs, in the order of
the less number of the accommodated terminals out of the
neighboring radio base stations while it makes a reference to the
retained information (step 504). Herein, in the event that a radio
base station BS2, which is a radio base station of the identical
operator, and of which the accommodated terminal number is few,
exists in the neighborhood, it is investigated whether one radio
terminal or more that currently belongs to BS1 and is connectable
to the selected neighboring radio base station BS2 exists (step
505). By making a reference to radio interference information 740,
750, and 760 to be transmitted from the radio terminal, and so
forth, this investigation can be made. And, if such a radio
terminal exists, this radio terminal is instructed to switch over
the connection-destination radio base station from BS1 to BS2 (step
506).
[0113] On the other hand, also in the event that no radio base
station of the identical operator exists in the neighborhood, and
that only the radio base station, which belongs to the different
operator and of which the accommodated terminal number is few,
exists in the neighborhood, the process is similarly performed
(step 507). In such a manner, the load distribution can be made
from the network side in the event that the load (the connected
radio terminal number) is greatly biased between the identical
operator and the different operator.
[0114] In FIG. 15 is illustrated an operational flowchart at the
moment that the radio-resource management server notifies the
occurrence of the fault in the radio link to a network management
server in the first embodiment of the present invention. At first,
the radio-resource management server sequentially reads out the
retained radio base-station information from a head radio base
station by radio base station (step 521), and acquires a list
(NB_list) of the neighboring radio base stations utilizing a
frequency channel (F_cur) identical to the frequency channel that
the selected radio base station (its own station) utilizes (step
522).
[0115] Next, the radio-resource management server acquires a list
(NB_list1) of the radio base stations belonging to the radio
operator identical to the radio operator to which the selected
radio base station belongs, out of the radio base stations to be
included in this list (NB_list) (step 523), and acquires a list
(NB_list2) of the radio base-stations that belong to the radio
operator different from the radio operator to which the selected
radio base station belongs, and are controllable by the
radio-resource management server, out of the radio base stations to
be included in this list (NB_list) (step 524). The meaning of these
NB_list1 and NB_list2 is similar to the explanation of FIG. 13.
[0116] Next, the radio-resource management server switches on a
fault-notification flag FL_notify for the base station, of which
the received level exceeded a threshold Ic_fl1, and of which a
fault-notification-done flag FL_notify_done is off, out of the
radio base stations to be included in the list (NB_list1) (step
525). Also, it sets the fault-notification flag FL_notify to be on
for the base station, of which the received level exceeded a
threshold Ic_fl2, and of which a fault-notification-done flag
FL_notify_done is off, out of the radio base stations to be
included in the list (NB_list2) (step 526).
[0117] Also herein, the reason why the threshold of the
interference quantity (received level) is sorted out between the
identical radio operator and the radio operator other than it is
that it is necessary to suppress the quantity of the interference
with the other radio operator at a lower level than that within the
identical radio operator. After the radio-resource management
server marked the base stations for which the fault notification
had to be made in a general way, it sequentially reads out the
radio base station information (step 527), transmits a
radio-resource management message to the network management server
of the radio operator to which the radio base station for which the
fault-notification flag FL_notify was set to be on (step 528)
belongs, and notifies to it. [0118] the occurrence of the fault
[0119] the interference quantity [0120] the quantity of the
transmitted power that the radio base station should attenuate
[0121] the value of the frequency channel that that radio base
station should alter [0122] or the area in which the radio base
station should be re-arranged (step 529).
[0123] Furthermore, the fault-notification-done flag FL_notify_done
is set to be off for the radio base station for which the
notification was made (step 530) so that the fault notification is
not made repeatedly. This fault-notification-done flag may be
manually set to be off when the fault was cancelled, or may be
automatically set to be off by confirming that the fault was
cancelled, and stability was kept.
[0124] In FIG. 16 is illustrated an operational flowchart of the
radio terminal in a second embodiment of the present invention. In
the second embodiment of the present invention, the value of the
timer is switched over in two stages responding to the link quality
at the moment that the radio terminal notifies the link quality to
the radio-resource management server. In an initial state, the
value of the timer T2 is set at T fast of which the period is short
in advance (step 441), and the value of the timer T2 is switched
over to T_slow of which the period is long at the moment that an
average level value Pa received from the radio base station during
communication exceeded a fast-measured threshold Pa_th, and was
stabilized in a good quality state (step 443).
[0125] On the other hand, in the event that the average
received-level value Pa became equal to or less than the
fast-measured threshold Pa_th, the period of the timer T2 is
shorten once again for restarting it (step 444). In addition, the
similar control may be applied for the radio base station. In such
a manner, prolonging the notification period during the time that
the quality is in good state allows the quantity of the
notification traffic for control to be reduced, and the congestion
of the network to be alleviated.
[0126] In FIG. 17 is illustrated an operational flowchart of the
radio terminal in a third embodiment of the present invention. Also
in this case, similarly, the value of the timer at the moment that
the radio terminal notifies the link quality to the radio-resource
management server is switched over in two stages; however a
criterion for switching over is decided by a distribution value of
the received level. In the event that a received-level distribution
value Pd from the radio base station during communication falls
below a fast-measured threshold Pd_th (step 445), fluctuation in
the quality is regarded to be mild, and the measurement period T2
is set to be long (step 443). In the event that the distribution
value Pd exceeded Pd_th, the measurement period T2 is set to be
short once again (step 444). In addition, the similar control may
be applied for the radio base station.
[0127] In such a manner, setting the notification period to be long
during the time that the quality is in good state allows the
quantity of the notification traffic for control to be reduced, and
the congestion of the network to be alleviated.
[0128] In FIG. 18 is illustrated contents of radio-link measured
information 601 to be transmitted from the radio base station to
the radio-resource management server in a fourth embodiment of the
present invention. A difference between it and the radio-link
measured information 600 in the first embodiment is to include
cable-link availability-ratio information of its own station 670.
The cable-link availability-ratio information of its own station
670 is configured of a cable-link physical speed 671, an average
transmission rate 672, an average reception rate 673, a peak
transmission rate 674, and a peak reception rate 675.
[0129] The average transmission rate 672 and the average reception
rate 673 are average bit rates obtained by dividing the bit numbers
that the radio base station transmitted/received via the cable link
connected hereto during the measurement period by the measurement
period respectively. The peak transmission rate 674 and the peak
reception rate 675 represent the maximum bit numbers
transmitted/received via the cable link for any one second during
the measurement period respectively.
[0130] In FIG. 19 is illustrated an operational flowchart of the
intra-radio-base-station load distribution in the fourth embodiment
of the present invention. In the fourth embodiment, the
radio-resource management server gives an instruction of the
handover to the radio terminal, thereby allowing the load
distribution to be realized. A difference between it and the load
distribution in the first embodiment (FIG. 14) is steps 510 and
511. That is, as shown in these steps 510 and 511, consideration
was taken into an availability ratio of the cable link (.rho.l=the
average rate/the physical speed of the cable link) as a criterion
for starting the load distribution in addition to the number of the
radio terminals that the radio base station accommodates. In such a
manner, making the load distribution responding to the congestion
status of the upstream cable links 300 to 304 as well in addition
to the load of the radio link enables the more efficient
distribution of the load as a whole of the network.
[0131] In FIG. 20 is illustrated a configuration view of the
radio-resource management system in a fifth embodiment of the
present invention. In this fifth embodiment, the radio operators A,
B, and C install radio-resource management servers 41, 42, and 43
respectively. In this case, after once the radio-link measured
information that the radio terminal or the radio base station
transmitted were aggregated in the radio-resource management
servers 41, 42, and 43 of the radio operators respectively, they
are transferred to the radio-resource management server 40 in a
mass.
[0132] In such a manner, transferring the radio-link measured
information in a lump to the radio-resource management server that
is a third-party organ after it was brought together within each
operator allows the quantity of the control traffic to be
reduced.
[0133] A schematic functional block diagram of the radio-resource
management server 40 of this third-party organ is illustrated in
FIG. 21, and the identical parts to FIG. 8 are indicated with the
identical numerals. A communication service price decision section
97 was added to the block of FIG. 8 in FIG. 21, and the other
configuration is identical to that of FIG. 8. This communication
service price decision section 97 has a function of, responding to
the quality etc. of each of the radio links of a plurality of the
radio operators, taking decision control of a price at which the
communication service is offered to the external network, and the
details of its operation are shown in FIG. 22 and FIG. 23.
[0134] In FIG. 22 is illustrated an operational flowchart of the
radio-resource management server, in particular, the communication
service price decision section 97 in a sixth embodiment of the
present invention. The identical parts to FIG. 9 are indicated with
the identical numerals in FIG. 22. In this sixth embodiment, the
radio-resource management server decides the price at which the
communication service via the network of each radio operator is
offered to the external network, and notifies this price to the
above external network (steps 802 to 805). At this time, as an
element for deciding this price, there are each quality (Qwi) of
all radio links belonging to a radio operators i, each speed (Swi)
of the radio links, and each availability ratio (.rho.wi) of the
radio links, and the values obtained by adding these respective
qualities (Qwi), speeds (Swi), and availability ratios (.rho.wi)
for summing up are employed (step 803).
[0135] For example, each quality (Qwi) of the radio links can be
calculated from the received-packet error ratio (616 of FIG. 4),
each speed (Swi) of the radio links from the radio-link physical
speed (621 of FIG. 4), and each availability ratio (.rho.wi) of the
radio links from the average transmission rate (623 of FIG. 4), the
average reception rate (624 of FIG. 4), and the radio-link physical
speed (621 of FIG. 4), respectively.
[0136] And, a predetermined price decision function f (Qwi, Swi,
.rho.wi) is employed to calculate a current price Vi for the
external network of the radio operator i. The calculated current
price Vi is notified to the external network from the
radio-resource management server (step 805), and in addition
hereto, is notified to each radio operator and each radio terminal
as well. In such a manner, altering the price of the circuit
responding to the speed, the quality, and the availability ratio of
the radio link group allows the optimal network of the radio
operator to be always offered to the external network.
[0137] For example, the function shown below can be employed as f
(Qwi, Swi, .rho.wi).
f(Qwi,Swi,.rho.wi)=.alpha.Qwi+.beta.Swi+.gamma..rho.wi
where .alpha.+.beta.+.gamma.=1
[0138] Also, the above-mentioned price decision and notification
process are executed by taking the time-out of the timer T7 as a
trigger after initializing the radio-resource management
server.
[0139] In FIG. 23 is illustrated an operational flowchart of the
radio-resource management server, in particular, the communication
service price decision section 97 in a seventh embodiment of the
present invention. The identical parts to FIG. 22 are indicated
with the identical numerals in FIG. 23. In this seventh embodiment,
in addition to the operation of the sixth embodiment shown in FIG.
22 is added an operation for causing the external network to
receive the guarantee that the current price of the circuit of the
radio operator i does not exceed a predetermined upper limit value
Vi_max in compensation for a radio-resource management fee that was
paid to an entity operating the radio-resource management server
from the external network.
[0140] That is, the third-party organ operating the radio-resource
management server decides the operational fee for operating it so
that the price at which the communication service via the network
of each radio operator is offered to the external network becomes
equal to or less than the upper limit value predetermined between
the third-party organ and the external network, and collects its
charge from the operator of the external network. And, in the event
that the price of the communication service does not reach the
above upper limit value, the third-party organ is to offer the
communication service to the external-network operator at a then
price (current price).
[0141] For this, the process of restraining the current value Vi to
Vi_max is performed in the radio-resource management server (step
807) in the event that the computed current price Vi exceeded the
above upper limit value Vi_max (step 806). The other process is
similar to that of the sixth embodiment of FIG. 22.
[0142] Needless to say, the operational flow of each apparatus
mentioned above is realized by pre-filing it as a program in a
record medium such as a ROM to cause the CPU that is a computer to
read it for execution.
[0143] A technique of a business model employing the foregoing
radio-resource management system as an eighth embodiment of the
present invention will be explained below while a reference is made
to the accompanied drawings. As one example, a case is described
where the radio communication operator operates the radio
communication system such as a LAN in a three-storied tenant
building as shown in FIG. 24. A tenant-1 to a tenant-3 utilize the
floors of this tenant building respectively, and an owner of the
tenant building manages the radio resource of the radio
communication system that the tenant-1 to the tenant-3 operate,
thereby allowing the radio communication quality to be guaranteed
and an additive value of the building itself to be enhanced.
[0144] An operational sequence of the embodiment of the business
model in this example is illustrated in FIG. 25. The owner of this
building makes a management contract on the radio resource within
the building with an owner of the radio-resource management server
(step S1), and entrusts him/her with a radio-resource management
business employing the radio-resource management server. And, the
tenant (for example, the tenant-1) who desires to operate the radio
communication service makes a radio-resource utilization contract
with the owner of the building (step S2).
[0145] In the event that the tenant utilizes radio facilities such
as the radio base station, he/she registers radio-facility
information relating to the radio facilities to the radio-resource
management server via the owner of the building and the owner of
the radio-resource management server (steps S3 and S4), and
actually installs the radio facilities (for example, the radio base
station) (step S5).
[0146] The radio-resource management server acquires the radio-link
measured information 600 (see FIG. 4) and 700 (see FIG. 7) from the
registered radio facilities and the radio terminals, and supervises
the communication status of the radio communication operator. That
is, it supervises the occurrence of the fault such as the
occurrence of high-load status and the occurrence of the
interference day after day (steps S6-1 to S6-4). And, when the
radio-resource management server detects a high-load communication
status (step S7), it presents, for example, a fault-avoidance
countermeasure such as extending the radio facilities, and altering
the installment-location of the radio facilities, etc. via the
owner of the radio-resource management server and the owner of the
building to the tenant having the radio facilities where the
high-load communication status is occurring (steps S8 to S10).
[0147] Herein, in the event that other tenant (for example, the
tenant-2) utilizes the similar radio facilities, similarly to the
explanation made in the event of the former tenant-1, he/she makes
the radio-resource utilization contract (step S11). And, the
radio-facility information relating to the radio facilities of the
tenant-2 is registered to the radio-resource management server
(step S12), and the radio facilities are installed actually (steps
S13 and S14).
[0148] The radio-resource management server acquires the radio-link
measured information 600 and 700 from the registered radio
facilities of the tenant-2 and the radio terminals, and similarly
supervises its communication status day after day (steps S15-1 and
S15-2). At this time, when the interference occurs between the base
stations that are the radio facilities of the tenant-1 and the
tenant-2 (step S17), the radio-resource management server outputs
an instruction of the alteration of the frequency, the alteration
of the transmitted power, etc. to the radio facilities causing the
interference to occur in order to cancel the interference (step
S18), and presents an interference avoidance countermeasure. When
the fault is removed thereby (step S19), the radio-resource
management server makes a report of its effect to its owner (step
S20).
[0149] In such a manner, in the event that the owner of the
radio-resource management server supervised the daily radio
communication status employing the radio-resource management server
to detect the fault, he/she makes a rule of offering the service
for carrying out the automatic avoidance, the notification of the
fault, and the presentation of a fault-cancellation idea. The
matter stands in such a manner that the owner of the radio-resource
management server charges the management fee etc. including a fee
for the above service to the owner of the building who is a person
enjoying this service (step S21), and that the owner of the
building pays the radio-resource management service fee to the
owner of the radio-resource management server (step 25), and the
owner of the building charges the radio-resource utilization fee to
the tenant who made the radio resource contract (steps S23 and
S24).
[0150] At this time, by establishing disparity in level (class) of
the service to be offered to the tenant in advance, different
service fees can be set responding to the level of the service. For
example,
(1) A service only for automatic interference avoidance, (2) A
notification service of the high-load communication status in
addition to the above-mentioned (1), (3) A presentation service of
a fault-avoidance countermeasure in addition to the above-mentioned
(2), and so forth can be considered. As to the interference, it is
apparent that a business model technique also can be considered of,
by regarding the tenant-1 to the tenant-3 as the radio operator,
making the management contract directly with the owner of the
radio-resource management server without going through the owner of
the building. In this case, the owner of the radio-resource
management server is o be entrusted with the radio resource
management of the radio communication operator to offer a service
enabling an offer of the high-quality radio communication
environment to contracted users of the radio communication
operator.
[0151] FIG. 26 is a view illustrating an outline of a functional
block diagram of the radio-resource management server to be
employed for the business model technique shown in FIG. 25, and the
identical parts to FIG. 8 are indicated with the identical
numerals. In FIG. 26, a fault process section 98 has a
frequency-alteration control section 91, a transmitted-power
control section 92, and a base-station load-distribution control
section 93, and each of these stations 91 to 93, which has an
identical function to each of the sections 91 to 93 shown in FIG. 8
respectively, receives the radio-link measured information 600 and
700 from the radio facilities to supervise the communication status
of the radio link, and to detect the fault occurrence (the
interference and the high load), and performs an
avoidance-countermeasure process of it.
[0152] In a database 100 are registered information relating to a
person enjoying the service who made the radio-resource management
contract, information relating to the radio facilities, information
relating to the service level (class), and information relating to
its service fee, etc. A service fee charging section 99 charges the
service fee to the owner of the building (in the event of bypassing
the owner of the building, directly to the tenant of the building)
based on information registered in this database 100. The other
configuration and the function are identical to that of FIG. 8, and
its explanation is omitted.
[0153] As mentioned above, in accordance with the present
invention, the effect exists that, by managing the wireless network
quality of a plurality of the radio operators in a integrated
manner to alter the frequency channel of the radio base station,
the transmitted power, the terminal to be accommodated, and so
forth responding to a necessity, it becomes possible to optimally
operate the radio resource that is held in common.
* * * * *