Cognitive wireless communication system

• US 8,219,131 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2008
• Issued: 07/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Yamaoka, Ryouji, Yamamoto, Junji, Wakayama, Koji, Hanaoka, Seishi, Morishige, Takehiro, Yano, Masashi, Suzuki, Toshiaki, Yoshizawa, Satoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Aminzay, Shaima Q
• Application Number:
  US12/007,164
• Publication Number:
  US 20080182605A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,646 Days
• Field of Search: 455/507, 455/332, 455/343, 455/435.1, 455/426.1, 455/435.2, 455/435.3, 455/458, 455/512, 455/515, 370/329, 370/341, 370/444, 370/455
• US Class Current: 455/507
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/56 based on priority criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points

Abstract

To prevent a hung-up of communications due to changes in a radio wave condition resulting from frequent displacement of the terminals and changes in a number of the terminals, and to realize switching of the radio systems adapting to the radio condition. A radio communication system comprising: a base station for providing a plurality of radio systems, and terminals for communicating with the base station through the plurality of radio systems. The base station decides a priority of the radio system on which the each terminal will communicate thereafter and transmits paging signals of one of the plurality of radio systems which includes information on the decided priority to the each terminal.

Claims

1. A radio communication system, comprising:

a base station implementing a plurality of radio systems, and

a plurality of terminals for communicating with the base station using the plurality of radio systems, each of the terminals comprising a plurality of transmitters, a plurality of receivers, and a controller for controlling the transmitters and the receivers, each transmitter and each receiver of each of the terminals corresponding to a radio system of the plurality of radio systems, wherein

the base station decides a priority of radio systems of the plurality of radio systems that each of the terminals will use to communicate thereafter and transmits paging signals of one of the plurality of radio systems which include priority information indicating the decided priority of radio systems of the plurality of radio systems that each of the terminals will use to each of the terminals,

the controller of each terminal decides the radio systems to use for communication based on the priority information included in the paging signals transmitted from the base station, obtained information on the radio systems available for the terminal to use, and information on a radio system that the terminal requests to use, and

the controller of each terminal sets the receiver of the terminal that corresponds to the radio system decided to be used for communication in an active state when the radio system decided to be used for communication is different from the radio system used by the terminal for receiving the paging signals and the terminal is set to the sleep state for the radio system decided to be used for communication.

2. The radio communication system according to claim 1, further comprising a monitoring node coupled with the base station,

wherein the base station comprises access points for each of the radio systems, gateways terminating each of the radio systems, and a control node for controlling the gateways,

wherein the monitoring node obtains states of the radio systems, and

wherein the control node decides the priority of the radio systems each of the terminals will use to communicate thereafter based on the state of each of the radio systems obtained by the monitoring nodes, the information on the radio systems available for each of the terminals to use, and the information on the radio system that each of the terminals requests to use.

3. The radio communication system according claim 2,

wherein the monitoring node obtains at least a piece of information on RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication), packet loss, transmission rate of each of the terminals, a number of the terminals coupled with each of the access points, and processing load of each of the access points, and

wherein the control node converts the information obtained from the radio systems at different timing into comparable forms, and decides the priority of the radio systems each of the terminals will use to communicate thereafter based on the converted information by taking into account a position and a direction of movement of each of the terminals.

4. The radio communication system according to claim 2, wherein

the control node selects the radio system to be used to transmit the paging signals based on the information obtained by the monitoring node and the information on the radio system that each of the terminals requests to use, and

instructs the gateway to send the paging signals including priority information from the access points.

5. The radio communication system according to claim 4, wherein the base station implements a first radio system having a wide communication area and a second communication system having a narrower communication area than the first radio system,

wherein the control node controls to transmit the priority information on the decided priority of the radio systems each of the terminals will use to communicate thereafter by the paging signals of the first radio system if the first radio system is available, and

wherein the control node controls to transmit the priority information on the decided priority of the radio systems each of the terminals will use to communicate thereafter by the paging signals of a second radio system if the first radio system is not available.

6. The radio communication system according to claim 1, wherein the controller of each terminal obtains the information on the available radio systems by referring to a beacon signal of the radio systems, and stores the obtained information on the available radio systems and information on the radio system that the terminal requests to use.

7. The radio communication system according to claim 1, wherein, for each terminal, the controller sets the receiver of each radio system not decided to be used for communication in the sleep state.

8. The radio communication system according to claim 7, wherein, for each terminal, the receiver of each radio system which is set in the sleep state changes a time interval of receiving paging signals depending on each radio system for which the corresponding receiver is in the active state.

9. The radio communication system according claim 7, wherein, for each terminal, the receiver of each radio system which is set in the sleep state does not wake up even if the paging signal is detected.

10. The radio communication system according to claim 1, wherein the base station decides the priority of the radio systems that each of the terminals will use to communicate thereafter based on at least one item of information that is obtained by the base station on a received signal value, a throughput, a position of each of the terminals, or a direction of movement of each of the terminals.