Patent Application
20230421506
The present disclosure relates to an automatic connection control device, an automatic connection control method, an automatic connection control program, and an automatic connection control system, and more particularly, to an automatic connection control device, an automatic connection control method, an automatic connection control program, and an automatic connection control system for controlling a connection state of a user terminal having a function of connecting to an external network by selectively using two paths.
The example illustrated in
According to the technology in the related art described in Non Patent Literature 1 or the like, the user terminal 12-1 cannot ascertain the communication state between the router 14 and the upper network 18. Therefore, even when communication via the router 14 is mixed, the user terminal 12-1 may maintain communication with the router 14 even though communication with another network 20 is possible.
Under such a situation, when the user terminal 12-1 switches the communication destination from the router 14 to another network 20, there is a possibility that the communication efficiency of the user terminal 12-1 itself will be improved, and at the same time, the communication efficiency of the other user terminals 12-2 to 12-4 will also be improved.
The invention according to the present disclosure has been made in view of the above points, and a first object thereof is to provide an automatic connection control device having a function of prompting a user terminal capable of performing communication through a plurality of paths to switch to another path in a case where communication through one path is congested.
In addition, a second object of the invention according to the present disclosure is to provide an automatic connection control method for prompting a user terminal capable of performing communication through a plurality of paths to switch to another path in a case where communication through one path is congested.
In addition, a third object of the present disclosure is to provide an automatic connection control program for prompting a user terminal capable of performing communication through a plurality of paths to switch to another path in a case where communication through one path is congested.
In addition, a fourth object of the present disclosure is to provide an automatic connection control system for prompting a user terminal capable of performing communication through a plurality of paths to switch to another path in a case where communication through one path is congested.
According to a first aspect, in order achieve the above object, it is desirable that there be provided an automatic connection control device connected to an upper network via a communication line and having a function of establishing connection with a user terminal in a wired or wireless manner, the automatic connection control device including: a connection monitoring unit that monitors a connection state with the user terminal; a network information storage unit that stores information indicating whether or not the user terminal being connected has a function of establishing communication with another network different from the upper network; and a connection control unit that controls connection with the user terminal, in which the connection control unit executes a process of detecting that congestion exceeding a determination criterion is occurring in the communication line communicating with the upper network, a disconnection process of disconnecting connection from the user terminal having a function of establishing communication with the another network among the user terminals being connected in a case where congestion is recognized, a process of detecting resolution of the congestion, and a process of enabling reconnection to the user terminal of which connection has been disconnected by the disconnection process in a case where resolution of the congestion is recognized.
Further, according to a second aspect, it is desirable that there be provided an automatic connection control method for controlling connection between a communication line connected to an upper network and a user terminal, the automatic connection control method including: a step of storing information indicating whether or not the user terminal being connected to the communication line has a function of establishing communication with another network different from the upper network; a congestion calculation step of calculating a congestion degree of the communication line communicating with the upper network; a congestion determination step of determining congestion of the communication line in a case where the congestion degree exceeds a determination criterion; a disconnection step of disconnecting connection between the user terminal having a function of establishing communication with the another network among the user terminals being connected to the communication line and the communication line in a case where the congestion is recognized; a resolution determination step of determining that the congestion has been resolved; and a step of reconnecting the user terminal of which connection has been disconnected by a process of the disconnection step to the communication line in a case where resolution of the congestion is recognized.
Further, according to a third aspect, it is desirable that there be provided an automatic connection control program for controlling connection between a communication line connected to an upper network and a user terminal, the automatic connection control program including: a program that causes a processor that controls connection between the communication line and the user terminal to execute a connection monitoring process of monitoring a connection state between the communication line and the user terminal, a network information storing process of storing information indicating whether or not the user terminal being connected to the communication line has a function of establishing communication with another network different from the upper network, and a connection control process of controlling connection between the communication line and the user terminal, in which the connection control process includes a process of detecting that congestion exceeding a determination criterion is occurring in the communication line communicating with the upper network, a disconnection process of disconnecting connection from the user terminal having a function of establishing communication with the another network among the user terminals being connected in a case where congestion is recognized, a process of detecting resolution of the congestion, and a process of enabling reconnection to the user terminal of which connection has been disconnected by the disconnection process in a case where resolution of the congestion is recognized.
Further, according to a fourth aspect, it is desirable that there be provided an automatic connection control system for controlling connection between a communication line connected to an upper network and a user terminal, the automatic connection control system including: a router that establishes a connection to the user terminal in a wired or wireless manner; and a communication control device that establishes communication between the communication line and the router, in which the communication control device includes a connection control notification unit that calculates a congestion degree of the communication line communicating with the upper network, determines congestion of the communication line and generates a disconnection notification in a case where the congestion degree exceeds a determination criterion, and generates a connection notification in a case where resolution of the congestion is recognized based on the congestion degree, and the router includes a network information storage unit that stores information indicating whether or not a user terminal being connected to the communication line has a function of establishing communication with another network different from the upper network, a connection monitoring unit that monitors a connection state with the user terminal, and a connection control unit that receives the disconnection notification and disconnects connection to the user terminal having a function of establishing communication with the another network among the user terminals being connected to the router, and receives the connection notification and enables reconnection to the user terminal of which connection has been disconnected after receiving the disconnection notification.
According to the first to fourth aspects, in a case where congestion of the communication line communicating with the upper network is detected, the connection between the user terminal that can be connected to another network and the communication line thereof is disconnected. As a result, the communication load of the communication line decreases, and congestion is alleviated. On the other hand, the user terminal of which connection is disconnected can continue communication through another network. Furthermore, according to the first to fourth aspects, when the congestion of the communication line communicating with the upper network is resolved, the user terminal of which connection has been disconnected and the communication line thereof are connected again. Accordingly, efficient use of the communication line is achieved.
The ONU 16 is an optical line termination device on one end side of a passive optical network (PON), and communicates with an upper network 18 via a splitter (not illustrated) and an optical line terminal (OLT). Furthermore, the OLT is an optical line termination device on the other end side of the PON. The ONU 16 and the OLT are connected by an optical fiber, and communication by an optical signal is performed therebetween.
In the configuration illustrated in
As illustrated in
The ONU 16 also includes a queue monitoring unit 32 and a band monitoring unit 34. The queue monitoring unit 32 first monitors a queue length L of the ONU 16. The queue length L is an amount of uplink data that can be accumulated by the ONU 16. The queue monitoring unit 32 further monitors the amount of traffic queuing in the ONU 16. Since this traffic amount is provided to the OLT as a report value R in order to determine band allocation by the TDM, the traffic amount is referred to as a “report value R” in the following description. The band monitoring unit 34 monitors a communication band between the ONU 16 and the router 14.
The ONU 16 further includes a connection control notification unit 36. The connection control notification unit 36 calculates an allocation value G from the Grant information received by the Grant reception unit 30. The allocation value G corresponds to the amount of uplink data that can be transmitted by the ONU 16 by the band allocated to the ONU 16 in the current processing cycle.
The connection control notification unit 36 further calculates the data amount that can be queued after the band allocation of the current cycle, that is, the queuing margin remaining in the ONU 16 after the current processing cycle, by the following arithmetic expression using the queue length L provided from the queue monitoring unit 32 and the report value R.
Queuing margin=L−(R−G) (1)
In the above expression (1), (R−G) is an amount obtained by subtracting the data amount (G) transmitted in the current processing cycle from the data amount (R) queued at the beginning of the current processing cycle, and means the remaining amount of uplink data at the end stage of the processing cycle. Then, when the remaining amount (R−G) is subtracted from the queue length L which is the accumulation capacity of the uplink data, the queuing margin remaining at the end stage of the processing cycle is obtained.
The connection control notification unit 36 further determines whether or not the queuing margin is a sufficient value. When the queuing margin is sufficiently secured, it can be determined that data congestion does not occur in communication data via the ONU 16. In this case, the connection control notification unit 36 generates a connection notification for recognizing connection of the user terminal. On the other hand, in a case where the queuing margin is not sufficiently secured, it can be determined that data congestion has occurred in the ONU 16. In this case, the connection control notification unit 36 generates a disconnection notification for reducing the number of connections of the user terminal connected to the router 14 in order to reduce the data amount via the PON.
The above notification generated by the connection control notification unit 36 of the ONU 16 is provided to the connection control unit 40 of the router 14. The router 14 includes a connection monitoring unit 42 and a network information storage unit 44 in addition to the connection control unit 40.
The connection monitoring unit 42 monitors the state of the user terminal connected to the router 14 and provides the connection control unit 40 with information on the user terminal in communication with the router 14. The network information storage unit 44 stores whether or not the user terminal connected to the router 14 can be connected to another network 20, and provides the connection control unit 40 with the information. The fact that the user terminal can be connected to another network 20 may cause the router 14 to have a detection function, or may be registered by the user himself or herself.
When receiving the disconnection notification from the connection control notification unit 36 of the ONU 16, the connection control unit 40 disconnects the connection with a user terminal that can be connected to another network 20 among the user terminals connected to the router 14. Further, when receiving the connection notification from the connection control notification unit 36, the connection control unit 40 reconnects to the user terminal to which the connection is disconnected by the disconnection notification. As described above, according to the configuration of the present embodiment, it is possible to automatically control the connection destination of the user terminal that can be connected to another network 20 according to the congestion degree of the PON without requiring a special function for the user terminal.
In a case where it is determined by the above processing that L−(R−G)<the set value is not established, it can be determined that the queuing margin is sufficiently present. In this case, since it is not necessary to change the current communication state, the processing in step 100 is repeated again without performing special processing.
On the other hand, in a case where it is recognized by the above processing that L−(R−G)<the set value is established, it can be determined that the queuing margin is insufficient to continue the current communication. In this case, a “disconnection notification” is generated to reduce the number of user terminals communicating with the router 14 (step 102). This notification is provided from the ONU 16 to the router 14 as described above.
After generating the “disconnection notification” by the above processing, the ONU 16 next determines whether or not the queuing margin is larger than the above set value (step 104). While L−(R−G)>the set value is not established, congestion of PON has not yet been resolved, and it can be determined that the number of user terminals communicating with the router 14 should not be increased. In this case, the processing of step 104 is repeated without changing the current communication state.
On the other hand, in a case where it is recognized by the above processing that L−(R−G)>the set value is established, it can be determined that the mixture of PON is eliminated since the queuing margin is sufficient. In this case, since it is possible to increase the number of user terminals communicating with the router 14, a “connection notification” is generated (step 106). This notification is also provided from the ONU 16 to the router 14 as described above.
As a result, in a case where reception of the “disconnection notification” is recognized, next, it is determined whether or not there is a user terminal that can be connected to another network 20 among the user terminals that are communicating with the router 14 (step 112). This determination is made based on information stored in the network information storage unit 44. As a result, in a case where it is determined that there is no user terminal that can be connected to another network 20, since there is no user terminal of which connection is disconnected, the processing of step 110 is executed again without performing special processing thereafter.
On the other hand, in a case where it is recognized by the above processing that there is the user terminal that can be connected to another network 20, the connection to the user terminal is disconnected (step 114). Information on the user terminal of which connection has been disconnected is recorded in the connection monitoring unit 42.
For example, under the situation illustrated in
In the routine illustrated in
As a result, in a case where reception of the “connection notification” is not recognized, it is not necessary to change the communication state, and thus the processing of step 110 is repeated again. On the other hand, in a case where the reception of the “connection notification” is recognized, it is determined whether or not there is a user terminal in a state where the connection is disconnected by the “disconnection notification” (step 118). As a result, in a case where it is determined that there is no user terminal in the disconnected state, there is no target to be reconnected, and thus the routine of this time is terminated without performing special processing thereafter.
On the other hand, in a case where it is determined by the above processing that there is a user terminal in a disconnected state, reconnection to the user terminal is attempted (step 120). For example, in a case where the connection with the user terminal 12-1 is disconnected under the situation illustrated in
Meanwhile, in Embodiment 1 described above, the report value R represents the data amount queued at the beginning of the processing cycle, but the value R may be replaced with the data amount flowing into the ONU 16 every DBA cycle. In this case, the queuing margin used in steps 100 and 104 above is calculated by the following arithmetic expression. Here, Σ means to integrate (R−G) calculated for each DBA cycle.
Queuing margin=L−Σ(R−G) (2)
For example, in a case where the report value R of the cycle 1, that is, the data amount flowing into the ONU 16 is “5”, the allocation value G is “4”, and R of the cycle 2 is “6”, and G is “4”, Σ(R−G) up to the cycle 2 is as follows.
Σ(R−G)=(5−4)+(6−4)=3
As a result,L−Σ(R−G) becomes a value correctly representing the queuing margin remaining after the DBA cycle.
Further, in Embodiment 1 described above, the set value used in step 100 and the set value used in step 104 are set to the same value, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, the set value used in step 104 may be made larger than the set value used in step 100, and hysteresis may be given to the generation criterion of the disconnection notification and the generation criterion of the connection notification.
Next, Embodiment 2 of the present disclosure will be described with reference to
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Similarly to the connection control notification unit 36 according to Embodiment 1, the connection control notification unit 56 has a function of generating the “disconnection notification” when congestion of a line is detected, and generating a “connection notification” when resolution of the congestion is detected. Specifically, the connection control notification unit 56 generates the “disconnection notification” when the communication capacity margin between the L2SW 52 and the upper network 18 is less than the set value, and generates the “connection notification” when the communication capacity margin exceeds the set value.
In the present embodiment, a value of approximately 10% of the communication capacity of the communication line can be used as the set value. For example, in a case where the communication line connecting the L2SW 52 and the upper network 18 has a speed of 1 GbE, the set value may be 100 Mbps. In this case, the connection control notification unit 36 generates the “disconnection notification” when the band monitoring unit 54 detects a communication amount exceeding 900 Mbps, and generates the “connection notification” when the communication amount is less than 900 Mbps.
The router 14 receives the “disconnection notification” and the “connection notification” generated by the ONU 54 and operates similarly to the case of Embodiment 1. As a result, similarly to the case of Embodiment 1, the communication system 50 according to the present embodiment can automatically control the connection state between router 14 and the user terminal in accordance with the congestion degree between upper network 18 and the router 14.
Incidentally, in Embodiment 2 described above, the set value used for determination of the “disconnection notification” and the set value used for determination of the “connection notification” are the same value, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The set values may be different from each other similarly to the modification example of Embodiment 1.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2020/043828 | 11/25/2020 | WO |
