Relay apparatus, relay method, relay program, and communication system

• US 20070263818A1
• Filed: 09/22/2006
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Matsukura, Ryuichi, Yamauchi, Hitoshi, Sumioka, Motoshi
• Granted Patent: US 8,229,087 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/201.10
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2416 Real-time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

A relay apparatus for relaying communication between a plurality of wireless terminals and a wired network includes a priority data recording part for recording communication identification data and required bandwidth data, a priority control part for relaying, by priority, the communication recorded in the priority data recording part, a request receiving part for receiving communication identification data and multimedia type data, a selecting part for selecting a multimedia type to be relayed by priority, an updating part for additionally recording data that represents a bandwidth required for relaying a stream of the selected multimedia type and the communication identification data, and a responding part for transmitting a response. The selecting part selects the multimedia type so that a sum of bandwidths represented by the required bandwidth data does not exceed a predetermined upper limit value. With the above configuration, the relay apparatus can perform bandwidth control of communication to be relayed, considering the multimedia type included in the communication by a wireless terminal.

Claims

1. A relay apparatus of the present invention for relaying communication between a plurality of wireless terminals and a wired network, includes:

a wireless communication part for enabling wireless communication between the plurality of wireless terminals and the relay apparatus;

a wired network connecting part for connecting the relay apparatus and the wired network including a communication control apparatus that controls starting and ending of communication between the wireless terminals;

a priority data recording part for recording communication identification data that represents a prioritized communication to be relayed by priority and required bandwidth data that represents a quantity of the transport bandwidth required by the prioritized communication;

a priority control part for relaying the prioritized communication by priority compared with the others based on the communication identification data recorded in the priority data recording part;

a request receiving part for receiving, from the wireless terminal, a request message that contains communication identification data representing a starting communication and multimedia type data representing one or more multimedia types of the streaming communication contained within the starting communication;

a selecting part for selecting at least one multimedia type of the streaming communication contained within the starting communication, referring the required bandwidth data recorded in the priority data recording part and data representing bandwidth required for relaying each streaming communication calculated by the multimedia type data;

an updating part for updating the data which is recorded in the priority data recording part, newly adding data representing a quantity of bandwidth for relaying the streaming communication whose multimedia type is selected by the selecting part and the communication identification data representing a starting communication;

a responding part for transmitting data that represents the streaming communication to be relayed by priority, selected by the selecting part, to the communication control apparatus, as a response to the request message,

wherein the selecting part selects the multimedia type of the each streaming communication contained within the starting communication not to exceed a predetermined upper limit of the total value of bandwidth required for relaying the prioritized communication even if adding the required bandwidth for relaying the starting communication.

2. The relay apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a precedence recording part that records a precedence of a plurality of multimedia types,

wherein the selecting part selects at least one multimedia type of the streaming communication to be relayed by priority based on the precedence recorded in the precedence recording part.

3. The relay apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selecting part requests the communication control apparatus to inquire of a wireless terminal that requests starting of communication about a multimedia type of a streaming communication to be relayed by priority, obtains data that represents the multimedia type of the streaming communication to be relayed by priority as a response to the request from the communication control apparatus, and selects the multimedia type of the streaming communication based on the obtained data.

4. A relay apparatus for relaying communication between a plurality of wireless terminals and a wired network, comprising:

a wireless communication part for enabling wireless communication between the plurality of wireless terminals and the relay apparatus;

a wired network connecting part for connecting the relay apparatus and the wired network including a communication control apparatus that controls start and ending of communication of the wireless terminals;

a plurality of priority grade data recording parts for recording stream identification data for identifying a streaming communication to be relayed by priority with respect to each stage of priority provided in a plurality of stages;

a precedence recording part for recording precedence of a plurality of multimedia types;

a priority control part for relaying a streaming communication specified by the stream identification data recorded in the priority grade data recording part with higher priority, by priority compared with a streaming communication specified by the stream identification data recorded in the priority grade data recording part with lower priority;

a request receiving part for receiving a request message containing the communication identification data that represents a starting communication of a wireless terminal ready to be started and multimedia type data that represents each multimedia type of one or a plurality of streaming communications included in the starting communication;

a priority determining part for determining priority with respect to a streaming communication of each multimedia type represented by the multimedia type data, based on the precedence recorded in the precedence recording part; and

an updating part for recording the stream identification data for identifying the streaming communication specified by the communication identification data and the multimedia type data in the priority grade data recording part in accordance with the priority determined by the priority determining part, with respect to the streaming communication of each multimedia type.

5. A communication system accessible wirelessly from a plurality of wireless terminals, comprising:

a relay apparatus for relaying communication between a wired network and the plurality of wireless terminals, and a communication control apparatus connected to the relay apparatus via the wired network,

wherein the communication control apparatus includes;

an interconnecting part for transmitting a request message that contains communication identification data representing a starting communication and multimedia type data representing one or more multimedia types of the streaming communication contained within the starting communication, based on a request for starting of communication received from an arbitrary wireless terminal; and

a communication control part for receiving a response to the request message transmitted by the interconnecting part from the relay apparatus, and controlling the starting of communication for each streaming communication included in the starting communication based on the response,

wherein the relay apparatus includes;

a priority data recording part for recording communication identification data that represents a prioritized communication to be relayed by priority and the required bandwidth data that represents a quantity of the transport bandwidth required by the prioritized communication;

a priority control part for relaying the prioritized communication by priority compared with the others based on the communication identification data recorded in the priority data recording part;

a request receiving part for receiving, from the wireless terminal, a request message that contains communication identification data representing a starting communication and multimedia type data representing one or more multimedia types of the streaming communication contained within the starting communication;

a selecting part for selecting at least one multimedia type of the streaming communication contained within the starting communication, referring the required bandwidth data recorded in the priority data recording part and data representing bandwidth required for relaying each streaming communication calculated by the multimedia type data;

an updating part for updating the data which is recorded in the priority data recording part, newly adding data representing a quantity of bandwidth for relaying the streaming communication whose multimedia type is selected by the selecting part and the communication identification data representing a starting communication;

a responding part for transmitting data that represents the streaming communication to be relayed by priority, selected by the selecting part, to the communication control apparatus, as a response to the request message,

wherein the selecting part selects the multimedia type of the each streaming communication contained within the starting communication not to exceed a predetermined upper limit of the total value of bandwidth required for relaying the prioritized communication even if adding the required bandwidth for relaying the starting communication.

6. A relay method for a relay apparatus to relay communication between a plurality of wireless terminals and a wired network, the relay apparatus including:

a wireless communication part for enabling wireless communication between the plurality of wireless terminals and the relay apparatus;

a wired network connecting part for connecting the relay apparatus and the wired network including a communication control apparatus that controls starting and ending of communication between the wireless terminals; and

a priority data recording part for recording communication identification data that represents a prioritized communication to be relayed by priority and required bandwidth data that represents a quantity of the transport bandwidth required by the prioritized communication,

the method includes;

a request receiving operation of receiving, from the wireless terminal, a request message that contains communication identification data representing a starting communication and multimedia type data representing one or more multimedia types of the streaming communication contained within the starting communication;

a selecting operation of selecting at least one multimedia type of the streaming communication contained within the starting communication, by referring the required bandwidth data recorded in the priority data recording part and data representing bandwidth required for relaying each streaming communication calculated by the multimedia type data;

an updating operation of updating the data which is recorded in the priority data recording part, by newly adding data representing a quantity of bandwidth for relaying the streaming communication whose multimedia type is selected by the selecting operation and the communication identification data representing a starting communication; and

a responding operation of transmitting data that represents the streaming communication to be relayed by priority, selected by the selecting operation, to the communication control apparatus, as a response to the request message,

wherein the selecting operation, the multimedia type of the each streaming communication contained within the starting communication is selected not to exceed a predetermined upper limit of the total value of bandwidth required for relaying the prioritized communication even if adding the required bandwidth for relaying the starting communication.

7. A relay program stored in a recording medium for causing a computer to execute processing of relaying communication between a plurality of wireless terminals and a wired network, the computer including:

a wireless communication part for enabling wireless communication between the plurality of wireless terminals and the computer;

a wired network connecting part for connecting the computer and the wired network including a communication control apparatus that controls starting and ending of communication between the wireless terminals; and

a priority data recording part for recording communication identification data that represents a prioritized communication to be relayed by priority and required bandwidth data that represents a quantity of the transport bandwidth required by the prioritized communication,

the program causes the computer to execute;

request receiving processing of receiving, from the wireless terminal, a request message that contains communication identification data representing a starting communication and multimedia type data representing one or more multimedia types of the streaming communication contained within the starting communication;

selecting processing of selecting at least one multimedia type of the streaming communication contained within the starting communication, by referring the required bandwidth data recorded in the priority data recording part and data representing bandwidth required for relaying each streaming communication calculated by the multimedia type data;

updating processing of updating the data which is recorded in the priority data recording part, by newly adding data representing a quantity of bandwidth for relaying the streaming communication whose multimedia type is selected by the selecting processing and the communication identification data representing a starting communication; and

responding processing of transmitting data that represents the streaming communication to be relayed by priority, selected by the selecting processing, to the communication control apparatus, as a response to the request message,

wherein the selecting processing, the multimedia type of the each streaming communication contained within the starting communication is selected not to exceed a predetermined upper limit of the total value of bandwidth required for relaying the prioritized communication even if adding the required bandwidth for relaying the starting communication.

8. A relay method for a relay apparatus to relay communication between a plurality of wireless terminals and a wired network, the relay apparatus including:

a wireless communication part for enabling wireless communication between the plurality of wireless terminals and the relay apparatus;

a wired network connecting part for connecting the relay apparatus and the wired network including a communication control apparatus that controls starting and ending of communication of the wireless terminals;

a plurality of priority grade data recording parts for recording stream identification data for identifying a streaming communication to be relayed by priority with respect to each stage of priority provided in a plurality of stages; and

a precedence recording part for recording precedence of a plurality of multimedia types,

the method comprising;

a priority control operation of relaying a streaming communication specified by the stream identification data recorded in the priority grade data recording part with higher priority, by priority compared with a streaming communication specified by the stream identification data recorded in the priority grade data recording part with lower priority;

a request receiving operation of receiving a request message containing the communication identification data that represents a starting communication of a wireless terminal ready to be started and multimedia type data that represents each multimedia type of one or a plurality of streaming communications included in the starting communication;

a priority determining operation of determining priority with respect to a streaming communication of each multimedia type represented by the multimedia type data, based on the precedence recorded in the precedence recording part; and

an updating operation of recording the stream identification data for identifying the streaming communication specified by the communication identification data and the multimedia type data in the priority grade data recording part in accordance with the priority determined by the priority determining operation, with respect to the streaming communication of each multimedia type.

9. A relay program stored in a recording medium for causing a computer to execute processing of relaying communication between a plurality of wireless terminals and a wired network, the computer including:

a wireless communication part for enabling wireless communication between the plurality of wireless terminals and the computer;

a wired network connecting part for connecting the computer and the wired network including a communication control apparatus that controls starting and ending of communication of the wireless terminals;

a plurality of priority grade data recording parts for recording stream identification data for identifying a streaming communication to be relayed by priority with respect to each stage of priority provided in a plurality of stages; and

a precedence recording part for recording precedence of a plurality of multimedia types,

the program causes the computer to execute;

priority control processing of relaying a stream specified by the stream identification data recorded in the priority grade data recording part with higher priority, by priority compared with a stream specified by the stream identification data recorded in the priority grade data recording part with lower priority;

request receiving processing of receiving a request message containing the communication identification data that represents a starting communication of a wireless terminal ready to be started and multimedia type data that represents each multimedia type of one or a plurality of streaming communications included in the starting communication;

priority determining processing of determining priority with respect to a streaming communication of each multimedia type represented by the multimedia type data, based on the precedence recorded in the precedence recording part; and

updating processing of recording the stream identification data for identifying the streaming communication specified by the communication identification data and the multimedia type data in the priority grade data recording part in accordance with the priority determined in the priority determining processing, with respect to the streaming communication of each multimedia type.