Transmission system and method for assigning transmission channel
A transmission terminal measures an error rate by periodically transmitting an error rate measuring packet to all transmission channels and all transmission paths. Content to be transmitted is classified, so that a transmission channel of the best transmission quality is assigned to content requiring real-timeness and a wide transmission bandwidth. According to the type of the content, a required communication protocol is selected to perform processing thereof. The transmission bandwidth for the content requiring a wide transmission bandwidth is assigned at a peak rate, while the transmission bandwidth for the content requiring a narrow transmission bandwidth is assigned at an average rate.
1. A transmission system, comprising:
a relay apparatus including:
a detection unit configured to detect transmission quality of each of a plurality of transmission channels; and
a transmission unit configured to transmit quality information related to a detected result by the detection unit; and
a communication apparatus configured to wirelessly communicate with a second communication apparatus via the relay apparatus, wherein the communication apparatus includes:
a connection unit configured to connect to a plurality of external apparatuses;
a recognition unit configured to recognize transmission quality of each of the plurality of transmission channels based on quality information received from the relay apparatus;
a first determination unit configured to determine a content type of each content input from each external apparatus via the connection unit;
a second determination unit configured to determine transmission quality required on transmission of each content based on a content type; and
a requesting unit configured to decide transmission channels to transmit each content input via the connection unit based on a transmission quality of each of the plurality of transmission channels recognized by the recognition unit, to decide transmission quality required on a transmission of each content having a transmission quality determined by the second determination unit, and to request the relay apparatus to assign decided transmission channels.
2. The transmission system according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of transmission channels comprises channels divided in terms of frequency.
3. The transmission system according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of transmission channels comprises channels divided in terms of optical wavelength.
4. The transmission system according to claim 1 , wherein the detection unit is configured to detect transmission quality by measuring an error rate for each of the plurality of transmission channels.
5. The transmission system according to claim 1 , wherein the detection unit is configured to detect an error rate from a log of past communications.
6. The transmission system according to claim 1 , wherein the detection unit is configured to measure an error rate by transmitting an error rate measuring packet to all transmission channels.
7. The transmission system according to claim 1 , wherein the relay apparatus is configured to assign a requested transmission channel if the requested transmission channel has an available transmission bandwidth.
8. The transmission system according to claim 1 , wherein the first determination unit is configured to classify content types into at least content requiring real time communication and a wide transmission bandwidth, content requiring real time communication and a narrow transmission bandwidth, and content requiring no real time communication.
9. The transmission system according to claim 1 , further comprising a selection unit configured to select a communication protocol for each content based on a content type determined by the first determination unit.
10. The transmission system according to claim 1 , wherein the requesting unit is configured to request a transmission rate appropriate for each content.
11. The transmission system according to claim 10 , wherein the transmission rate comprises a peak rate or an average rate.