COMMUNICATION DEVICE, COMMUNICATION CONTROL METHOD, AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20130163520A1
• Filed: 08/10/2011
• Published: 06/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kimura, Ryota
• Granted Patent: US 9,143,885 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/12 Shortest path evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/125 based on throughput or bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0215 based on user or device properties, e.g. MTC-capable devices services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] H04W4/70; wireless resource selection or allocation plan definition based on terminal or device properties H04W72/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0289 Congestion control load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing

Abstract

Provided is a communication device within a communication network including a plurality of communication nodes, including: a reception unit that receives a data packet transmitted from a terminal device or transmitted to the terminal device; a communication control unit that selects a forwarding destination node of the data packet from a plurality of forwarding destination node candidates when the terminal device is a machine-type communication (MTC) terminal; and a transmission unit that transmits the data packet to the forwarding destination node selected by the communication control unit.

Claims

1. A communication device within a communication network including a plurality of communication nodes, comprising:

a reception unit that receives a data packet transmitted from a terminal device or transmitted to the terminal device;

a communication control unit that selects a forwarding destination node of the data packet from a plurality of forwarding destination node candidates when the terminal device is a machine-type communication (MTC) terminal; and

a transmission unit that transmits the data packet to the forwarding destination node selected by the communication control unit.

2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the communication control unit selects the forwarding destination node of the data packet based on control information within the data packet.

3. The communication device according to claim 2, further comprising:

a storage unit that stores forwarding destination data in which classification of data packets is associated with forwarding destination nodes,

wherein the communication control unit classifies the data packet according to the control information, and selects a forwarding destination node associated with classification of the data packet in the forwarding destination data as the forwarding destination node of the data packet.

4. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein the control information includes a terminal identifier (ID), a class, or a group of the terminal device or an application ID or a class of an application relating to the data packet.

5. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein the communication control unit classifies each data packet according to the control information, and selects a forwarding destination node of each data packet so that forwarding destinations of data packets belonging to the same classification are distributed to a plurality of forwarding destination nodes.

6. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the communication control unit selects the forwarding destination node of the data packet from the plurality of forwarding destination node candidates regardless of a routing metric relating to a path to a destination node of the data packet.

7. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the communication control unit inserts intermediate node designation information designating an intermediate node different from a destination node on a path to the destination node of the data packet into a destination field of the data packet.

8. The communication device according to claim 7, wherein the communication control unit transcribes information described in the destination field to another field upon receipt of the data packet.

9. The communication device according to claim 7, wherein the communication control unit adds a flag indicating that the destination field is changed to the data packet.

10. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the communication network is a core network of a cellular communication system.

11. A communication control method for use in a communication device within a communication network including a plurality of communication nodes, comprising:

receiving a data packet transmitted from a terminal device or transmitted to the terminal device;

selecting a forwarding destination node of the data packet from a plurality of forwarding destination node candidates when the terminal device is an MTC terminal; and

transmitting the data packet to the selected forwarding destination node.

12. A communication system comprising:

a communication device including a reception unit that receives a data packet transmitted from a terminal device or transmitted to the terminal device, a communication control unit that selects a forwarding destination node of the data packet from a plurality of forwarding destination node candidates when the terminal device is an MTC terminal, and a transmission unit that transmits the data packet to the forwarding destination node selected by the communication control unit; and

a plurality of communication nodes that are the forwarding destination node candidates.

13. A communication device within a communication network including a plurality of communication nodes, comprising:

a reception unit that receives a data packet transmitted from a terminal device or transmitted to the terminal device;

a transmission unit that transmits the data packet to a communication node that selects a forwarding destination node of the data packet from a plurality of forwarding destination node candidates when the terminal device is an MTC terminal, and

a communication control unit that inserts control information for use in classification of the data packet by the communication node for the selection of the forwarding destination node into the data packet.