Communication terminal accommodation apparatus and scheduling method

• US 7,660,895 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2001
• Issued: 02/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 12, LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Hirano, Jun, Aramaki, Takashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Chea; Philip J
• Application Number:
  US10/111,673
• Publication Number:
  US 20020156907A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,086 Days
• Field of Search: 709/229, 709/249, 709/218, 709/227, 709/228, 370/338, 370/341, 370/348, 370/352, 370/458, 370/395.5
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A DL resource control section 203 controls the status of communication resource assignment of a direct link type network. An MS resource control section 204 controls the status of communication resource assignment of a master-slave type network. When carrying out communications between terminal apparatus held in different networks, a transmission resource assigning section 205 refers to the status of communication resource assignment of the two networks controlled by the DL resource control section 203 and the MS resource control section 204 and assigns the same communication resources to both terminal apparatus of a transmitting side and a receiving side. Thus, the communication resources can be utilized effectively when carrying out communications between the terminal apparatus held in different networks respectively.

Claims

1. A communication terminal holding apparatus used in a first network that transmits and receives information with a second network adopting a different channel structure by using a plurality of types of communication frames between which a time period to transmit the information varies, the communication terminal holding apparatus comprising:

an information processing section that acquires communication resource information indicating a communication resource in a first communication frame assigned to the first network; and

a communication resource assigning section that, when a communication request is issued from a terminal apparatus held in the first network, with reference to the communication resource information, assigns an unused communication resource in the first communication frame to the terminal apparatus having sent the communication request, wherein;

when a communication request is issued between terminal apparatuses held in different networks in the first network, the resource assigning section assigns, to both the terminal apparatus on the transmitting side and the terminal apparatus on the receiving side, the same communication resource that is unused in the network holding the terminal apparatus on the transmitting side and the network holding the terminal apparatus on the receiving side, and, when a communication request is issued from a terminal apparatus held in the first network to a terminal apparatus held in the second network, assigns an unused communication resource to the terminal held in the first network, and

the first network includes a master-slave type network or a network integrating a master-slave type network and a direct link type network, and the second network cannot integrate with the first network.

2. The communication terminal holding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, based on the communication resource information, the communication resource assigning section assigns a communication resource, which provides a time period to allow a terminal held in the second network to perform communication and which is unused in the first communication frame, to the terminal apparatus having sent the communication request, among communication resources in a second communication frame assigned to the second network.

3. The communication terminal holding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second network includes an IEEE 802.11-based network.

4. A scheduling method of a communication terminal holding apparatus used in a first network that transmits and receives information with a second network adopting a different channel structure, by using a plurality of types of communication frames between which a time period to transmit the information varies, the method comprising the steps of:

acquiring communication resource information indicating a communication resource in a first communication frame assigned to the first network;

when a communication request is issued from a terminal apparatus held in the first network, with reference to the communication resource information, assigning an unused communication resource in the first communication frame to the terminal apparatus having sent the communication request;

when a communication request is issued between terminal apparatuses held in different networks in the first network, assigning, to both the terminal apparatus on the transmitting side and the terminal apparatus on the receiving side, the same communication resource that is unused in the network holding the terminal apparatus on the transmitting side and the network holding the terminal apparatus on the receiving side; and

when a communication request is issued from a terminal apparatus held in the first network to a terminal apparatus held in the second network assigning an unused communication resource to the terminal held in the first network,

wherein the first network includes a master-slave type network or a network integrating a master-slave type network and a direct link type network and the second network cannot integrate with the first network.

5. The scheduling method according to claim 4, further comprising, based on the communication resource information, assigning a communication resource, which provides a time period to allow a terminal held in the second network to perform communication and which is unused in the first communication frame, to the terminal apparatus having sent the communication request, among communication resources in a second communication frame assigned to the second network.

6. The scheduling method according to claim 4, wherein the second network includes an IEEE 802.11-based network.