Signal transfer system, signal transfer device, route control device and signal transfer method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11924740-B2
Application number	US-202017601849-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 26, 2020
Priority date	Apr 10, 2019
Publication date	Mar 5, 2024
Grant date	Mar 5, 2024

Abstract

A signal forwarding system includes: a plurality of signal forwarding devices forming a plurality of communication routes between a slave station and a master station; and a route control device that determines a communication route, wherein the route control device includes at least: a communication route calculation unit that calculates a communication route in response to a route switching request; and a forward destination setting instruction unit that outputs forward destination setting information based on the communication route, the signal forwarding devices include at least: a forward destination setting instruction acquisition unit that acquires the forward destination setting information; a forward destination set unit that changes a forward destination based on the forward destination setting information; and a forward unit that outputs input traffic based on the forward destination, and any of the route control device and the signal forwarding devices includes: a traffic monitor unit; a non-signal period estimation unit that estimates a non-signal period in which the traffic does not flow; and a switching timing control unit that controls a switching timing to perform route switching in the non-signal period.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A signal forwarding system comprising: a plurality of signal forwarding devices forming a plurality of communication routes between a slave station and a master station; and a route control device that determines a communication route of a signal communicated between the slave station and the master station, wherein
the route control device comprises at least a first one or more processors and a first one or more storage mediums having first computer program instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the first one or more processors, perform to: calculate a forward destination communication route in response to a route switching request; and output forward destination setting information to the signal forwarding devices based on the communication route calculated,
the signal forwarding devices comprise at least a second one or more processors and a second one or more storage mediums having second computer program instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the second one or more processors, perform to: acquire the forward destination setting information from the route control device; change a forward destination of the signal based on the forward destination setting information acquired; and outputs input traffic based on the forward destination, and
any of the first and second computer program instructions, when executed, further perform to:
monitor the traffic;
estimate a non-signal period in which the traffic does not flow based on the traffic monitored; and
control a timing of switching the communication route to perform route switching in the non-signal period estimated.

2. The signal forwarding system according to claim 1 , wherein the any of the first and second computer program instructions, when executed, further perform to: calculate a burst period and a maximum value or an average value of a burst length of the input traffic, and estimate the non-signal period as a period from a point of time after the maximum value or the average value of the burst length plus a predetermined adjustment time from the burst period to an end of the burst period.

3. The signal forwarding system according to claim 1 , wherein the any of the first and second computer program instructions, when executed, further perform to: monitor upstream and downstream traffic,
separately estimate an upstream non-signal period and a downstream non-signal period according to a Time Division Duplex (TDD) configuration, and
control the timing of switching the communication route to perform downstream route switching in the upstream non-signal period and perform upstream route switching in the downstream non-signal period.

4. The signal forwarding system according to claim 1 , wherein the any of the first and second computer program instructions, when executed, further perform to: monitor higher-priority traffic and lower-priority traffic,
separately estimate a non-signal period of the higher-priority traffic or a communicable period of a lower-priority signal and a non-signal period of the lower-priority traffic or a communicable period of a higher-priority signal, and
control the timing of switching the communication route to perform route switching of the lower-priority traffic in the communicable period of the higher-priority signal and perform route switching of the higher-priority traffic in the communicable period of the lower-priority signal.

5. A route control device that controls a plurality of signal forwarding devices forming a plurality of communication routes between a slave station and a master station and determines a communication route of a signal communicated between the slave station and the master station, wherein
the route control device comprises:
a processor; and
a storage medium having computer program instructions stored thereon, when executed by the processor, perform to:
calculate a forward destination communication route in response to a route switching request; and
output forward destination setting information to the signal forwarding devices based on the communication route,
monitor traffic of the signal forwarding devices;
estimate a non-signal period in which the traffic does not flow based on the traffic monitored; and
control a timing of switching the communication route to perform route switching in the non-signal period.

6. A signal forwarding method in a signal forwarding system comprising: a slave station; a master station; a plurality of signal forwarding devices forming a plurality of communication routes between the slave station and the master station; and a route control device that determines a communication route of a signal communicated between the slave station and the master station, wherein
the route control device performs at least: a communication route calculating process of calculating a forward destination communication route in response to a route switching request; and a forward destination setting instructing process of outputting forward destination setting information to the signal forwarding devices based on the communication route calculated in the communication route calculating process,
the signal forwarding devices perform at least: a forward destination setting instruction acquiring process of acquiring the forward destination setting information from the route control device; a forward destination setting process of changing a forward destination of the signal based on the forward destination setting information acquired in the forward destination setting instruction acquiring process; and a forwarding process of outputting input traffic based on the forward destination, and any of the route control device and the signal forwarding devices performs:
a traffic monitoring process of monitoring the traffic;
a non-signal period estimating process of estimating a non-signal period in which the traffic does not flow based on the traffic monitored in the traffic monitoring process; and
a switching timing control process of controlling a timing of switching the communication route to perform route switching in the non-signal period estimated in the non-signal period estimating process.

Assignees

• Nippon Telegraph & Telephone

Inventors

• Shibata Naotaka
• Uzawa Hiroyuki
• Ujikawa Hirotaka
• Fukada Yoichi
• Terada Jun

Classifications

• H04W40/248 Primary

  Connectivity information update · CPC title

• H04L45/70

  Routing based on monitoring results · CPC title

• H04L47/24

  Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS · CPC title

• H04W8/04

  Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server] · CPC title

• H04L12/2834 Primary

  Switching of information between an external network and a home network (access arrangements H04L12/2856) · CPC title