Network control apparatus, method, and program

• US 7,720,000 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2008
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamaguchi, Takao, Yoshida, Atsushi, Aoki, Katsuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Pezzlo; John
• Application Number:
  US12/375,872
• Publication Number:
  US 20100067533A1
• Time in Patent Office: 628 Days
• Field of Search: 370/389, 370/315, 370/401, 370/252
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40273 the transportation system being a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0847 Transmission error
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/125 based on throughput or bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/70 Routing based on monitoring results
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/12 based on transmission quality or channel quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/14 based on stability
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/22 using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point

Abstract

To enable network control (particularly, transmission band allocation) that excels in follow-up ability to follow changes in a network, locality, and responsiveness. A network control apparatus controls a wireless ad-hoc network and includes: a routing processing unit (402) which establishes routing within a wireless ad-hoc network using routing information including information regarding a local transmission quality within the wireless ad-hoc network; a routing processing unit (406) which obtains the information regarding the transmission quality from the routing information used for establishing the routing; and a bottleneck estimating unit (411) which estimates a relay apparatus as a bottleneck candidate, based on a distribution of plural transmission qualities within the wireless ad-hoc network, which are indicated by the obtained information.

Claims

1. A network control apparatus controlling, in an ad-hoc network structured with a terminal apparatus, a relay apparatus, and a gateway apparatus connected to each other through data links, the ad-hoc network through which data is transferred from the terminal apparatus to the gateway apparatus via the relay apparatus,

wherein routing in the ad-hoc network is established using routing information including information regarding a transmission error rate at each of the data links, and

said network control apparatus comprises:

a routing processing unit configured to obtain, from the routing information, information regarding a relationship between data links in connecting relay apparatuses on a path and information regarding the transmission error rate at each of the data links; and

a bottleneck estimating unit configured to estimate a relay apparatus as a bottleneck candidate from among the relay apparatuses, the relay apparatus having a data link through which the data is transmitted and at which the transmission error rate is higher than the transmission error rate at a data link through which the data is received.

2. The network control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein when the gateway apparatus collects a transmission speed at each of the relay apparatuses, said bottleneck estimating unit is configured to narrow down, when the routing information is changed, relay apparatuses estimated as bottleneck candidates, by selecting a relay apparatus at which the transmission speed has decreased after the change as compared to the transmission speed before the change.

3. The network control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein when the gateway apparatus detects that the routing information has been changed, said bottleneck estimating unit is configured to perform re-estimation, only on a relay apparatus related to the routing information that has been changed, as to whether or not the relay apparatus can be the bottleneck candidate.

4. The network control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an effective band measuring unit configured to measure an effective band that is a communication band allowing transmission of the data from the relay apparatus estimated as the bottleneck candidate to the gateway apparatus; and

a band allocation determining unit configured to determine, by dividing the measured effective band, a transmission band to be allocated to one or more other terminal apparatuses from which the relay apparatus relays the data.

5. The network control apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein when the gateway apparatus detects that the routing information has been changed, and when the gateway apparatus detects that a terminal has been added to or deleted from the ad-hoc network, said band allocation determining unit is configured to re-determine the transmission band by using the routing information after the change.

6. The network control apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein said effective band measuring unit is provided in the gateway,

said band allocation determining unit is provided in the terminal apparatus, and is configured to determine a transmission band to be allocated to one or more other terminal apparatuses from which the data is relayed by a same relay apparatus that relays the data from the terminal apparatus, by obtaining, from the gateway apparatus, the effective band measured by said effective band measuring unit and dividing the obtained effective band.

7. A gateway apparatus controlling an ad-hoc network which is structured with terminal apparatuses, relay apparatuses, and a gateway apparatus connected to each other through data links, and through which data is transferred from each of the terminal apparatuses to the gateway apparatus via the relay apparatuses,

wherein routing in the ad-hoc network is established using routing information including information regarding a transmission error rate, which is local, within the ad-hoc network, and

said gateway apparatus comprises:

a routing processing unit configured to obtain, from the routing information used for establishing the routing, information regarding a relationship between data links in connecting relay apparatuses on a path and the transmission error rate at each of the data links; and

a bottleneck estimating unit configured to estimate a relay apparatus as a bottleneck candidate from among the relay apparatuses, the relay apparatus having a data link through which the data is transmitted and at which the transmission error rate is higher than the transmission error rate at a data link through which the data is received.

8. A method of controlling an ad-hoc network which is structured with terminal apparatuses, relay apparatuses, and a gateway apparatus connected to each other through data links, and through which data is transferred from each of the terminal apparatuses to the gateway apparatus via the relay apparatuses,

wherein routing in the ad-hoc network is established using routing information including information regarding a transmission error rate, which is local, within the ad-hoc network, and

said control method comprises:

obtaining, from the routing information used for establishing the routing, information regarding a relationship between data links in connecting relay apparatuses on a path and the transmission error rate at each of the data links; and

estimating a relay apparatus as a bottleneck candidate from among the relay apparatuses, the relay apparatus having a data link through which the data is transmitted and at which the transmission error rate is higher than the transmission error rate at a data link through which the data is received.

9. A computer program for controlling an ad-hoc network which is structured with terminal apparatuses, relay apparatuses, and a gateway apparatus connected to each other through data links, and through which data is transferred from each of the terminal apparatuses to the gateway via the relay apparatuses,

wherein routing in the ad-hoc network is established using routing information regarding a local transmission error rate within the ad-hoc network, and

said computer program causes a computer to execute:

obtaining, from the routing information used for establishing the routing, information regarding a relationship between data links in connecting relay apparatuses on a path and the transmission error rate at each of the data links; and

estimating a relay apparatus as a bottleneck candidate from among the relay apparatuses, the relay apparatus having a data link through which data is transmitted and at which the transmission error rate is higher than the transmission error rate at a data link through which the data is received.

10. A network control apparatus controlling, in an ad-hoc network structured at least with a terminal apparatus and a relay apparatus connected to each other through data links, the ad-hoc network through which data is transferred from the terminal apparatus via the relay apparatus, said network control apparatus comprising:

a routing processing unit configured to obtain, from routing information including information regarding a transmission error rate at each of the data links, information regarding a relationship between data links in connecting relay apparatuses on a path and information regarding transmission error rate at each of the data links; and

a bottleneck estimating unit configured to estimate a relay apparatus as a bottleneck candidate from among the relay apparatuses, the relay apparatus having a data link through which the data is transmitted and at which the transmission error rate is higher than the transmission error rate at a data link through which the data is received.