JP7644155B2 - Wireless communication device, control method thereof, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a technology for controlling the provision of communication services.

In providing communication services, technology has been proposed that improves the quality of experience by performing priority control that prioritizes the allocation of communication resources to individual users/services (for example, Patent Literature 1). By increasing the priority of packets of a communication service used by a specific user, it is possible to reduce the impact of other communications on that communication service, enabling communication with little delay/fluctuation and a certain degree of communication speed (bandwidth).

JP 2019-176245 A

In the radio access network (RAN) section of mobile communications (4G/5G, etc.), it is generally difficult to ensure delay/fluctuations and communication speed even if the above-mentioned priority control is applied due to factors at specific base stations. The above-mentioned factors include the degree of communication congestion at the base station and the connection quality between the base station and the user device.

Therefore, if the above-mentioned priority control in mobile communications were provided, for example, as a paid service, it could happen that users who have subscribed to the service are unable to enjoy a comfortable communication service. As a result, users who have subscribed to the service may develop a distrust for the company that provides the service.

The present invention was made in consideration of these problems, and aims to provide technology that improves user customer satisfaction in wireless communication services.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a wireless communication device according to the present invention has the following arrangement.
A wireless communication device operating as a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system
an acquisition means for acquiring degree information indicating whether or not an effect of a predetermined service provided in a base station to which the wireless communication device is wirelessly connected is lower than a predetermined degree;
a control means for controlling output of a notification regarding activation of the predetermined service based on the degree information acquired by the acquisition means;
having
The level information is derived based on at least one of first information on a communication congestion level at the base station and second information on a wireless connection quality between the base station and the wireless communication device.

The present invention provides a technology that improves user satisfaction in wireless communication services.

1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a wireless communication system. A diagram showing the hardware configuration of a UE. A diagram showing the functional configuration of a UE. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a part of state information managed by each BS. 11 is a flowchart illustrating the operation in the UE. A figure showing an example of a GUI displayed on a UE.

The following embodiments are described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims. Although the embodiments describe multiple features, not all of these multiple features are necessarily essential to the invention, and multiple features may be combined in any manner. Furthermore, in the attached drawings, the same reference numbers are used for the same or similar configurations, and duplicate explanations are omitted.

First Embodiment
A first embodiment of a wireless communication device according to the present invention will be described below by taking a smartphone as an example of a user equipment (UE). In particular, in the first embodiment, an example will be described in which a priority control service is provided as an additional service (topping) that can be contracted on demand.

<Overall system configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a wireless communication system. The wireless communication system is a cellular communication system configured in compliance with cellular communication standards such as the fourth generation (4G) and fifth generation (5G) of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP (registered trademark)). The wireless communication system includes a plurality of base stations (BSs) 101 and a plurality of user equipments (UEs) 111 connected to a core network 121. In FIG. 1, a BS 101a to which many UEs are connected and a BS 101b to which only one UE is connected are shown in a simplified manner. The dashed lines connecting the UEs and the BSs indicate wireless connections, and the solid lines connecting the core network and the BSs indicate wired connections.

<UE Hardware Configuration>
Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the UE 111. As described above, the UE 111 here is a smartphone.

In one example, UE 111 includes a processor 201, ROM 202, RAM 203, storage device 204, communication circuit 205, and touch screen 206. Processor 201 is a computer including one or more processing circuits, such as a general-purpose CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), and reads and executes programs stored in ROM 202 and storage device 204 to perform the overall processing of the device and each process described below.

The ROM 202 is a read-only memory that stores information such as programs related to the processes executed by the UE 111 and various parameters. The RAM 203 functions as a workspace when the processor 201 executes programs, and is a random access memory that stores temporary information. The storage device 204 is, for example, a removable external storage device.

The communication circuit 205 is configured with a circuit for wireless communication that complies with a specific communication standard. In the following explanation, the 4G/5G standard is used as an example of the specific communication standard, but any communication standard used in the system configuration shown in FIG. 1 can be applied.

The touch screen 206 is, for example, a touch panel display, and is a component that combines a display unit for providing information to the user and a reception unit for receiving instructions from the user via touch operations.

<Functional configuration of UE>
3 is a diagram showing the functional configuration of the UE 111. The UE 111 has, as its functions, for example, a communication control unit 301, an information acquisition unit 302, a storage unit 303, a display control unit 304, and an operation reception unit 305. Note that in FIG. 3, only functions particularly related to this embodiment are shown, and other various functions that the UE 111 may have are omitted. For example, if the UE 111 is a smartphone, it naturally has other functions such as various input functions (GPS receiver, camera, microphone) and various output functions (vibration, speaker, etc.).

The functional blocks in FIG. 3 are shown in a schematic manner, and each functional block may be realized as an integrated unit, or may be further subdivided. Each function in FIG. 3 may be realized, for example, by the processor 201 executing a program stored in the ROM 202 or the storage device 204. Each function may also be realized, for example, by a processor present inside the communication circuit 205 executing specific software.

The communication control unit 301 controls wireless communication via the communication circuit 205. Specifically, it executes wireless communication conforming to a specific communication standard. In particular, if communication has not been established with a partner device (here, a base station), it executes initial access and connects (attaches) to the base station. In addition, if the quality of the wireless connection with the currently connected base station deteriorates, it executes handover to another base station in accordance with the standard.

The information acquisition unit 302 acquires system information (including status information, described below) of the currently connected base station via the communication circuit 205 under the control of the communication control unit 301. Here, it is assumed that the system information is acquired from a master information block (MIB) or a system information block (SIB) that is periodically broadcast from the base station, but it may also be acquired by individual unicast communication. The system information includes status information, which is information about the current communication connection of the base station (not limited to a moment, but may be, for example, the last few minutes or a period of several tens of minutes). Details of the status information will be described later with reference to FIG. 4.

The storage unit 303 stores various information for controlling the operation of the communication control unit 301 and the display control unit 304. It also stores the status information of the base station acquired by the information acquisition unit 302.

The display control unit 304 displays a graphical user interface (GUI) on the touch screen 206 to provide various information to the user. The operation reception unit 305 receives touch operations from the user via the GUI displayed on the touch screen 206. In the following description, an example of the GUI displaying a setting screen for performing various settings of the wireless communication service subscribed to and used by the wireless communication device will be described. The setting screen is displayed by executing a specific application. The application may be in the form of a standalone application that runs on the wireless communication device alone, or in the form of a web application that runs in cooperation with a web server.

The display control unit 304 and the operation reception unit 305 are also configured to execute the above-mentioned application to perform the operations described below with reference to Figures 5 and 6.

<Base station status information>
As described above, each base station manages information related to communication connections in the base station itself. The information acquired may be not only information related to the current communication connection, but also information related to past communication connections. Here, it is assumed that at least one of the following first information and second information is managed. In the first embodiment, it is assumed that the first information is transmitted to the wireless communication device via periodic broadcast by the base station, and the second information is transmitted to the wireless communication device via unicast and acquired from the wireless communication device.

Figure 4 shows a portion of the state information managed by each BS. The state information includes at least one of first information 401 and second information 402. Note that the state information changes over time, and the information obtained by broadcast/unicast also changes. Therefore, state information at multiple times may be obtained and stored in the memory unit 303.

The first information 401 is information related to the degree of communication congestion in the base station itself, and includes at least one piece of information: the resource block (RB) usage rate in the base station, the number of UEs wirelessly connected to the base station, and the average sector throughput in the base station.

The second information 402 is information related to the quality of the wireless connection between the base station and the wireless communication device, and includes at least one of the following information: reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise power ratio (SINR), modulation and coding rate scheme (MCS) index, and average user throughput. Note that the MCS index is an index that assigns numbers to multiple combinations of modulation schemes and coding rates in order of data transmission efficiency (high error resistance) (index = 0 has the lowest transmission efficiency).

Note that, here, the status information (first information 401 and second information 402) is described as being provided directly from the base station to the wireless communication device via broadcast/unicast, but the method of notifying the wireless communication device of the status information is not limited to this. For example, each base station may successively notify/register its own status information to a specified management device in the core network, and the wireless communication device may obtain status information corresponding to the base station to which it is currently connected from the specified management device.

<Device Operation>
Fig. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation in the UE. Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a GUI displayed on the UE. The flowchart in Fig. 5 is started, for example, when a user executes a predetermined application on a smartphone (UE), and displays a setting screen (GUI) according to Fig. 6(a) and waits for an instruction input from the user.

In step S501, the display control unit 304 acquires status information of the base station to which the wireless communication device is currently connected. As described above, the currently connected status information is acquired by the information acquisition unit 302, for example, when the wireless communication device connects to the base station, and is stored in the storage unit 303. If the status information is not stored in the storage unit 303, the latest status information is acquired from the base station via the information acquisition unit 302. Note that status information related to past communication connections may also be acquired.

In step S502, the display control unit 304 derives degree information indicating whether the effect of providing the specified service is lower than a specified degree based on the acquired state information. As described above, in the first embodiment, the specified service is a priority control service. Also, here, it is estimated whether communication when the priority control service is implemented satisfies the desired quality.

The desired quality is an index showing whether the user can feel an improvement in the communication state, and may be a relative evaluation to the current state (before the priority control service is implemented) or an absolute evaluation. For example, the desired quality is met when the communication speed is "X times faster than the current state" or "X Mbps or faster" and the latency time is "1/X faster than the current state" or "X ms or shorter."

Specific relative evaluation values and absolute evaluation values may be calculated in advance based on the mean opinion score (MOS). Qualitatively, when a large number of UEs are connected, such as BS 101a in FIG. 1, the BS is highly congested and the quality of the wireless connection between the UE and the BS deteriorates. On the other hand, when only one UE is connected, such as BS 101b in FIG. 1, the BS is less congested and the quality of the wireless connection between the UE and the BS is good. Specifically, when at least one of the following is satisfied: the RB usage rate is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the number of UEs is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the average sector throughput is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the RSRP is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the SINR is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the MCS index is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and the average user throughput is equal to or less than a predetermined value, it is highly likely that the desired quality is not satisfied.

If the desired quality is not met, it is determined that "the effect of providing the specified service is lower than a predetermined level" and the process proceeds to S503. On the other hand, if the desired quality is met (the effect is equal to or greater than a predetermined level), the process proceeds to S504.

In step S503, when the user instructs the display control unit 304 to enable the priority control service via the operation reception unit 305, the display control unit 304 displays a warning indicating that the priority control service cannot be used. Then, the instruction to enable the priority control service is cancelled and the process ends. For example, when the user presses a toggle button for enabling the priority control service arranged on the setting screen (GUI), the display unit 304 returns the toggle button to the off state after displaying "This service is not expected to improve communication. Activation will be cancelled." (Figure 6(b)).

In step S504, when the user instructs the display control unit 304 to enable the priority control service via the operation reception unit 305, the display control unit 304 changes the toggle button to the on state and ends the process. As a result, priority control will be performed in subsequent communications.

Note that, instead of canceling the activation uniformly as in S503, the system may be configured to accept additional instructions from the user. For example, when a toggle button for activating the priority control service arranged on the setting screen (GUI) is pressed by the user, before changing the on/off state of the toggle button, a message is displayed saying "The communication state may not improve. Do you want to activate?" (FIG. 6(c)), and buttons are displayed to select "Enable" or "Do not activate." Then, when the "Enable" button is pressed, the toggle button is changed to the on state. On the other hand, when the "Do not activate" button is pressed, the toggle button is returned to the off state.

Furthermore, the GUI component (e.g., a toggle button) for instructing the activation of the priority control service may be configured to be hidden in advance (Figure 6(d)). This allows the user to know that the priority control service cannot currently be activated.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the display output of the setting screen regarding the activation of the priority control service is controlled based on the status information of the currently connected base station. This makes it possible to prevent a situation in which the user is unable to enjoy a comfortable communication service despite having contracted for the priority control service. As a result, the priority control service is only activated (contracted) when the priority control service can be effectively used (or when the user has consented to the possibility that it may not be effective). This makes it possible to provide the user with a service that gives a real feeling, thereby improving the user's customer satisfaction.

In the above explanation, a form of preventing the user from activating the service when the desired quality is not met (Yes in S502) has been described. However, it is also possible to configure the display control unit 304 to display a message that actively suggests/recommends the user to activate the service when the desired quality is met. A user who activates the service in response to a suggestion and feels the benefits will be more likely to use the service again.

In addition, advertisements may be displayed within an application as a method for actively proposing/recommending service activation to users. When displaying such advertisements, the presence or absence of advertisement display may be controlled depending on the determination result in S502. In other words, if the desired quality is not met, it is advisable to configure the system to suppress advertisement display.

Furthermore, in the above explanation, a form of controlling the display output on the setting screen that accepts service activation has been described, but other outputs related to service activation may also be controlled. For example, it may be configured to control the output of voice guidance related to service activation, or the output of messages (SMS or email) related to service activation.

(Variation 1)
In the above-described first embodiment, a configuration has been described in which state information is transmitted from a base station to a wireless communication device (UE), and the UE estimates whether or not communication in the case where a priority control service is implemented satisfies a desired quality. However, the estimation may be performed by the base station (or the network).

In this case, the base station, for example, triggered by a UE's connection to the base station (or an information acquisition request from the UE), derives degree information indicating whether the effectiveness of providing a specified service is lower than a specified degree based on status information (first information 401 and second information 402) regarding the current communication connection that it manages. The base station then provides (transmits) the derived degree information to the UE. As a result, for example, on the setting screen of the UE, display output control is implemented based on the degree information provided by the base station.

In addition to deriving the above-mentioned degree information from current state information, the above-mentioned degree information may be derived (estimated) based on past state information. For example, a database (DB) linking location information (or base station ID) and state information (first information or second information) in past connections is prepared inside each base station or as an external DB common to multiple base stations. Then, for example, the base station can obtain location information of the UE from the UE and derive the degree information based on information from the DB having the corresponding location information. Note that the DB may be configured to store data linking the above-mentioned degree information to location information instead of state information (first information or second information).

(Variation 2)
In the above explanation, the case of topping priority control has been explained, but the present invention may also be applied to the case of topping (adding) data capacity. Generally, in a communication contract, a data capacity (1 GB, 3 GB, 10 GB, etc.) that can be used for a certain period (e.g., a calendar month) is predetermined. This data capacity is a data capacity that allows for best-effort communication (high-speed communication of several tens of Mbps or more) without any intentional restrictions. If the data capacity is used up during the specified period, only low-speed communication (128 kbps, 1 Mbps, etc.) will be possible.

Therefore, it is expected that users will top up their data capacity to resolve the low-speed communication state when they run out of (high-speed communication) available data (Figure 6 (a)).

However, as in the first embodiment described above, depending on the situation, it is expected that only low-speed communication will be possible even if topping is performed. Therefore, it may happen that a comfortable communication service cannot be enjoyed even if data capacity is added. On the other hand, since the added data capacity is valid for a specified period (one day, one week, one month, etc.), the additional data capacity is not entirely wasted. Therefore, it is preferable to display a warning message similar to that shown in FIG. 6(c) when topping on additional data capacity.

In addition, this invention will make it possible to provide a more comfortable wireless communication environment, which will contribute to the achievement of Goal 9 of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is to "build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and promote innovation and infrastructure."

The invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the invention.

101 Base station (BS); 111 User equipment (UE); 301 Communication control unit; 302 Information acquisition unit; 303 Storage unit; 304 Display control unit; 305 Operation reception unit

Claims (13)

A wireless communication device operating as a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, comprising:
an acquisition means for acquiring degree information indicating whether or not an effect of a predetermined service provided in a base station to which the wireless communication device is wirelessly connected is lower than a predetermined degree;
a control means for controlling output of a notification regarding activation of the predetermined service based on the degree information acquired by the acquisition means;
having
A wireless communication device characterized in that the degree information is derived based on at least one of first information regarding the degree of communication congestion at the base station and second information regarding the wireless connection quality between the base station and the wireless communication device. 2. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined service is a priority control service that gives a high priority to the allocation of communication resources to the wireless communication device. The acquisition means includes:
a status acquisition means for acquiring at least one of the first information and the second information from the base station;
a derivation means for deriving the degree information based on the information acquired by the state acquisition means;
2. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, further comprising: The extent information is derived in the base station;
The wireless communication device according to claim 1 , wherein the acquisition means receives the degree information transmitted from the base station. The first information includes at least one of a resource block (RB) usage rate in the base station, a number of UEs wirelessly connected to the base station, and an average sector throughput;
2. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the second information includes at least one of a reference signal received power (RSRP), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) index, and an average user throughput for the wireless communication device. The wireless communication device according to claim 5, characterized in that the degree information is derived to indicate that the effectiveness of implementing the specified service is lower than the specified degree when at least one of the following is satisfied: the RB usage rate is equal to or higher than a specified value, the number of UEs is equal to or higher than a specified value, the average sector throughput is equal to or higher than a specified value, the RSRP is equal to or lower than a specified value, the RSRQ is equal to or lower than a specified value, the SINR is equal to or lower than a specified value, the MCS index is equal to or lower than a specified value, and the average user throughput is equal to or lower than a specified value. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that the control means controls the wireless communication device to notify the user that the specified service cannot be used when the level information indicates that the effectiveness of providing the specified service is lower than the specified level and when a user instructs the user to enable the specified service. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that when the level information indicates that the effectiveness of providing the specified service is lower than the specified level and a user instructs the user to enable the specified service, the control means controls the device to provide a notification indicating that the effectiveness of implementing the specified service is low prior to enabling the specified service. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that the control means controls the wireless communication device to not display a graphical user interface (GUI) component for enabling the specified service on a setting screen that accepts activation of the specified service when the level information indicates that the effectiveness of providing the specified service is lower than the specified level. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that the control means controls to issue a notification indicating that enabling of the specified service is recommended when the level information does not indicate that the effectiveness of providing the specified service is lower than the specified level. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that the notification output includes at least one of a display output on a setting screen that accepts activation of the specified service, a voice guidance output regarding the activation of the specified service, and a message output regarding the activation of the specified service. A method for controlling a wireless communication device operating as a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, comprising:
an acquisition step of acquiring degree information indicating whether or not an effect of a predetermined service provided in a base station to which the wireless communication device is wirelessly connected is lower than a predetermined degree;
a control step of controlling output of a notification regarding activation of the predetermined service based on the degree information acquired by the acquisition step;
Including,
A control method characterized in that the degree information is derived based on at least one of first information regarding the degree of communication congestion at the base station and second information regarding the wireless connection quality between the base station and the wireless communication device. A program for causing a computer to execute the control method according to claim 12.

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