Communication apparatus, wireless communication system and data flow control method

A data flow control method performed by a communication apparatus that is used in a wireless communication system in which a plurality of wireless devices shares a frequency used for communication and that performs, by operating as an upper layer of a MAC layer included in any of the wireless devices, wireless communication with a different wireless device through the MAC layer, the method comprising:

• temporarily accumulating communication data in a previous stage of transmission to the MAC layer;
• estimating an amount of transmittable data, which is an amount of data that can be transmitted in the MAC layer in a predetermined period, by using a radio wave index that is an index related to a radio wave in the frequency and/or a communication index that is an index related to wireless communication using the frequency, the indices being measured by an own apparatus;
• and
• controlling, on the basis of an estimation result of the amount of transmittable data, a data flow of when the communication data is transmitted to a lower layer,
• wherein when estimating an amount of transmittable data, the communication apparatus estimates an idle time rate of the frequency by using a statistical value of the radio wave index, and estimates the amount of transmittable data by using the acquired idle time rate, the radio wave index, and the communication index, and
• wherein when estimating an amount of transmittable data, the communication apparatus estimates the amount of transmittable data on the basis of an expectation value of a physical throughput of a wireless link which value is estimated by utilization of the idle time rate and the radio wave index.

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium in which communication program is recorded, the communication program is installed in a computer that is used in a wireless communication system in which a plurality of wireless devices shares a frequency used for communication and that performs, by operating as an upper layer of a MAC layer included in any of the wireless devices, wireless communication with a different wireless device through the MAC layer,

• the communication program causing the computer to perform:
• an accumulation processing of accumulating, temporarily, communication data in a previous stage of transmission to the MAC layer in an accumulation unit;
• an estimation processing of estimating an amount of transmittable data, which is an amount of data that can be transmitted in the MAC layer in a predetermined period, by using a radio wave index that is an index related to a radio wave in the frequency and/or a communication index that is an index related to wireless communication using the frequency, the indices being measured by an own apparatus;
• and
• a control processing of controlling, on the basis of an estimation result of the amount of transmittable data, a data flow of when the communication data is transmitted to a lower layer,
• wherein the communication program causes the computer to perform, in the estimation processing, estimating an idle time rate of the frequency by using a statistical value of the radio wave index, and estimating the amount of transmittable data by using the acquired idle time rate, the radio wave index, and the communication index, and
• wherein the communication program causes the computer to perform, in the estimation processing, estimating the amount of transmittable data on the basis of an expectation value of a physical throughput of a wireless link which value is estimated by utilization of the idle time rate and the radio wave index.