This application is related to and claims priority to Japanese Application No. 2005-356273 filed Dec. 9, 2005 in the Japanese Patent Office, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile radio system for radio communications among a plurality of mobile stations, radio communications between a plurality of mobile stations and a base station, and a mobile radio channel assigning method.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a communication system, a variety of systems have already been proposed, including multiple communication systems with requirements for multiple accesses by a plurality of stations. For example, communication systems which uses TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access), CSMA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) or the like are also known and are applied to mobile radio communications. Moreover, a system for radio communications among various mobile stations, as well as between a base station and a plurality of mobile stations is also known.
In addition, in a portable phone system, channels are assigned to each portable phone from a base station side by distributing a plurality of base stations, so as to provide partially overlapping service areas and enabling communications with other portable phones or fixed telephones via the base station, while a user carrying the portable phone is moving. Moreover, a control method has also been proposed, in which a mobile station issues a channel assignment request, using a common channel, to the base station on the basis of the CSMA/CA system, and the base station schedules the transmission time on the basis of the TDMA system (for example, refer to Japanese published application JP-A No. 2002-374265). In addition, a system and a control method have also been proposed, in which a beacon region for transmitting respective beacon packets from a plurality of master stations (base stations), a TDMA region in which the permitted particular stations can use a frequency band assigned on a time division basis, and a CSMA region, in which competitive access is possible, are periodically divided on the time axis for selecting a region to ensure the frequency band (for example, refer to Japanese Published application JP-A No. 2005-73240).
For example, it has been considered to apply the CSMA system, in which respective mobile stations select idle channels, to radio communications between the base stations distributed to the essential locations such as an intermediate point, branching point, or intersecting point, or the like, of the moving path of mobile stations, or to a center area, or the like, of the event site to which many persons carrying a plurality of mobile stations gather and a plurality of mobile stations moving outside the service areas of the base stations, It has also been considered to realize radio communications through channel designation from the base station side between the base stations and a plurality of mobile stations moving into the service areas of the base stations. In radio communications among mobile stations and radio communications between base stations and mobile stations, since common use of a radio frequency band is possible in identical frequency bands, an economical apparatus structure can be realized. In such a mobile communication system, channel distribution control, for example, is necessary so that radio communications betweens a base station and mobile stations and radio communications among mobile stations can be free from mutual interference.
For example,
Moreover, it has also been considered to apply one of the time slots obtained by dividing the identical frequency band on the time axis in part to radio communications between a base station and a mobile station, while also in part to radio communications among the mobile stations. In this case, the frequency channel to be used can also be selected among the mobile stations through application of the CSMA system. Moreover, for radio communications among the mobile stations, which are stopped in an area outside of a service area of the base station or are moving in such an area, the frequency channel can be used effectively by using respective, different time slots.
When many mobile stations are used, a problem arises in that transmission becomes difficult because the probability of carrier detection becomes higher for channel selection through application of the CSMA system. In this case, it has also been considered to increase the number of frequency channels which may be used by the mobile station; however, to do so raises another problem in that there is a limitation on the divisions of the predetermined frequency band, as to a frequency channel giving no mutual interferences, and thereby channel selection becomes difficult.
Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
Therefore, an aspect of the present invention is to solve the problems explained above by easily selecting channels for radio communications among mobile stations, and among a base station and mobile stations.
The mobile radio apparatus, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is, for example, a mobile radio apparatus for making radio communications between a base station and a plurality of mobile stations and radio communications among mobile stations, in which each mobile station comprises a location information acquiring unit acquiring position information of a present position of the mobile station, a channel assigning unit assigning a frequency channel for radio communications, and a transmitting/receiving unit transmitting and receiving with the frequency channel assigned with the channel assigning unit. The channel assigning unit comprises assigning unit assigning a frequency channel corresponding to the position information acquired using the position information acquiring unit.
The mobile radio apparatus, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is, for example, a mobile radio apparatus for making radio communications between a base station and a plurality of mobile stations and radio communications among mobile stations, in which each mobile station comprises a position information acquiring unit acquiring position information of a present position of the mobile station, a channel assigning unit assigning a frequency channel for radio communications, and a transmitting/receiving unit for transmission and reception with the frequency channel assigned with the channel assigning unit. The channel assigning unit comprises an assigning unit for assigning a frequency channel with a lower usage rate, based on the channel usage information of another mobile station assigned to a common channel.
The mobile radio apparatus, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is, for example, a mobile radio apparatus for making radio communications between a base station and a plurality of mobile stations, and radio communications among mobile stations, in which each mobile station comprises an position information acquiring unit acquiring position information of a present position of the mobile station, a channel assigning unit assigning a frequency channel used for radio communications, and a transmitting/receiving unit for transmission and reception using the frequency channel assigned by the channel assigning unit. The channel assigning unit comprises an assigning unit updating a frequency channel assignment for distributional use of a plurality of frequency channels on the basis of the channel usage information of another mobile station assigned to a common channel.
The mobile radio apparatus, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is, for example, a mobile radio apparatus for making radio communications between a base station and a plurality mobile stations, and radio communications among mobile stations, in which each mobile station comprises a position information acquiring unit acquiring position information of a present position of the mobile station, a channel assigning unit assigning a frequency channel for radio communications, and a transmitting/receiving unit for transmission and reception using a frequency channel assigned by the channel assigning unit. The channel assigning unit comprises an assigning unit for selecting a frequency channel by sensing a carrier for another frequency channel, selected sequentially or at random when the carrier is detected through carrier sensing.
The mobile radio channel assigning method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a mobile radio channel assigning method for making radio communications between a base station and a plurality of mobile stations and radio communications among the plurality of mobile stations, comprising: selecting the frequency channel, corresponding to position information of a mobile station, on the basis of position information acquired by the mobile station; and transmitting the frequency channel to another mobile station by sensing a carrier for the frequency channel.
When a mobile station is located outside of a service area of the base station, the mobile station cannot be subjected to channel assignment control from the base station, but is requested to self-controllably select a plurality of frequency channels for radio communications among the mobile stations. In this case, a carrier can be sensed easily in the mobile station by previously setting the frequency channel corresponding to the present positional information of the mobile station. Moreover, the efficiency of application of a frequency channel can be improved by selecting the frequency channel on the basis of the usage condition of the frequency channel. In this case, consideration is given to interference of adjacent channels, and distributed assignment of channels is required. As a result, radio communications among the mobile stations can be realized through self-controllable assignment of frequency channels.
These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) are a diagrams illustrating change in channel assignment, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b) are diagrams illustrating a change in channel assignment, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 6(A) and 6(B) are diagrams illustrating area groups, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 7(A), 7(B) and 7(C) are diagrams illustrating relationships between a base station and a plurality of mobile stations, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.
The GPS position information receiver 14, as position information acquiring means, is capable of acquiring the information of the present position of a mobile station 1, and the GPS position information acquiring receiver 14 can adapt various structures already known. Moreover, it is also possible to obtain the position information of the mobile station, instead of acquiring the position information with the GPS satellite, using the position information of the mobile stations allocated in every predetermined distance along various moving routes thereof and the distance information from the reference point.
Moreover, the position-CH correspondence table 15 stores a preset correspondence relationship between the position information acquired with the GPS position information acquiring receiver 14 and the channel CH. The transmission CH frequency generating unit 16 generates an own-station transmitting frequency, based on the timing signal, corresponding to the channel from the position-CH correspondence table 15, and then applies this own-station transmitting frequency to the transmission/reception control unit 12. With this position-CH correspondence table 15 and the transmission CH frequency generating unit 16, a channel assigning unit is formed.
Moreover, the transmission/reception control unit 12 modulates the transmitting information from the transmitting/receiving information processor 13 with the frequency of the assigned frequency channel and then transmits the modulated signal from the main information transmitting/receiving unit 11. Moreover, the main information transmitting/receiving unit 11 has a structure to receive and transmit information of other mobile stations, belonging to this mobile communication system, and information of the base station, in order to receive the information of another station, demodulate the information in the transmission/reception control unit 12, and transfer the information to the transmitting/receiving information processor 13. The transmitting/receiving information processor 13 includes an input/output unit and a display unit, or the like.
FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) are an explanatory diagrams showing a change in channel assignment, according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this diagram, frequency is plotted on the vertical axis, while time is plotted on the horizontal axis. Moreover, the frequency on the vertical axis is defined as a plurality of frequency channels, while the time on the horizontal axis is defined as a plurality of transmission timing slots and each frequency channel other than the common channel is respectively divided, corresponding to the transmission timing slots, as the channels to be used for transmission by the mobile station. Accordingly, the channel used for transmission can be selected by selecting the frequency channel and also selecting the transmission timing slot. In
In regards to the using state of channel in
Therefore, the common frequency channel which does not require acquisition of a frequency channel based on the CSMA system is defined as the common channel and the mobile station notifies another mobile station of the channel being used, through the common channel, using an identification number, or the like. Thereby, each mobile station can recognize an idle channel. Accordingly, the mobile station receives the common channel and selects channels not used by the other mobile stations.
For example, when the frequency channel number increases in the vertical direction, the frequency channel is updated to the channel having a larger frequency channel number and the updated channel is notified to another mobile station using the common channel, by utilizing the identification number, or the like, as explained above.
For example, when the channel number of the frequency channel used by the mobile station is small, the common channel is received, an idle channel having the larger frequency channel number is selected, the mobile station channel is updated to this idle channel, and the result is notified to another mobile station through the common channel. Accordingly, the channel assigning state of
FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b) are explanatory diagrams showing a change in channel assignment, according to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein a frequency channel is plotted on the vertical axis and transmission timing slots are plotted on the horizontal axis. In
Another embodiment of the present invention discloses a change in channel assignment based on the usage rate of frequency channels. In this embodiment, the information such as an identification number or the like of the channel used of each mobile station of the common channel explained above is received, the number of mobile stations used is calculated corresponding to each frequency channel, and the frequency channel used by the least number of mobile stations, that is, the lowest usage rate, is selected in order to determine the frequency channel in to be used as the transmission channel. Thereby, average usage rate of frequency channel can be obtained and a probability of competition of transmission by the CSMA system can be lowered. The structure for control explained above can be realized with the processing function of a processor controlling each section of the mobile station.
The assigning unit G1 assigning a channel on the basis of the position information corresponds to the functions of the position-CH correspondence table 15 and transmission channel frequency generator 16. For example, the assigning unit G1 controllably assigns the channels CH1, CH2, CH3, CH4, etc. used by the mobile station for radio communications corresponding to the position information of P1, P2, P3, P4, etc., for example, indicating a correspondence between the position information obtained by the mobile station and the channel as illustrated in
Moreover, the assigning unit G2 has a function to obtain a channel usage rate based on the notified information of the frequency channel used by each mobile station, obtained through the common channel, as explained above in the description of FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b), and to select the channel having a lower usage rate. Moreover, the assigning unit G3 has the function to select a channel through carrier sensing by the CSMA system, which is an already-known control function of the CSMA system. In addition, the assigning unit G4 has a function to assign a channel in accordance with the channel usage rate similar to that of the assigning unit G2.
In addition, a combination of the assigning unit G1 assigning a channel, on the basis of the position information, and the assigning unit G3 selecting a channel by the CSMA system or the assigning unit G4 assigning a channel, on the basis of the channel usage rate, enables the channel assignment control of mobile stations. Moreover, a combination of the assigning unit G2 channel assignment, on the basis of a channel usage rate, and the assigning unit G3, by the CSMA system, also enables the channel assignment control of mobile stations.
FIGS. 6(A) and 6(B) are explanatory diagrams of another embodiment of the present invention.
First, the smallest digit, 0 to 4, in the second of the latitude and longitude information of the position information acquired from the GPS satellite is defined as 0, while the smallest digit, 5 to 9, of the same is defined as 5. This may be indicated, for example, as P1a (latitude) and P1b (longitude). When the actual latitude is 36°00′11″, P1a is indicated as 36°00′10″. When the actual longitude is 138°59′47″, P1b is indicates as 138°59′45″.
Moreover, the position information based on the latitude and longitude can be expressed as follows in terms of distance. Since, 5 seconds of latitude is about 150 m and 10 seconds of longitude is about 125 m, a sum in units of seconds of P1a and P1b of the position information obtained is divided by 5 to obtain the quotient A. The lower two digits, for example, of the ID information of a mobile station is added to this quotient A. The result of the addition is defined as B.
In the case of the latitude and longitude information of the position information explained above, the quotient A becomes (10+45)/5=11, while the result of addition B becomes 11+5=16, when the ID of the mobile station is 8005. Such arithmetic process is executed whenever the position information is acquired. For example, such a process can be executed using the arithmetic processing function of the GPS position information acquiring unit 14 of
For example, when B is equal to 16 (B=16), the carrier of the transmission slot No. 16 is sensed for execution of the packet transmission. When the transmission period is 100 ms and the slot length is 1 ms, the packet slot 100 can be obtained. Since result of addition B is equal to 16, the carrier is sensed in the timing of 16 ms of the communication frame. In this case, since the mobile station, which is trying to conduct packet transmission at the same time, does not exist at a high probability in the area group of 150 m×125 m, the packet transmission rate can be improved. Moreover, the values of quotient A and addition result B explained above vary in accordance with movement of mobile stations, and the timing of carrier sensing corresponding to the mobile station is different. Thereby collision of transmission never occurs in the area group of 150 m×125 m.
Moreover, when a mobile station moves to area group 1 from area group 2, as illustrated in
In the above explanation, the transmission period is set to 100 ms. However, the mobile station can execute carrier sensing in accordance with the area grouping explained above by switching, for example, every 50 ms the packet transmission/reception between the base station and mobile station and the packet transmission among the mobile stations. In addition, it is also possible that the range of area grouping is expanded more than that explained above, the ID of the mobile station is used up to three digits, and the lower third digit is used for assignment in the frequency direction.
Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2005-356273 | Dec 2005 | JP | national |