# US 12,225,446 B2 · Performing a control operation to switch a plurality of communication paths > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,225,446 B2 - Document ID: US12225446B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/768,120 - Filed: 2019-10-16 - Published: 2023-08-03 - Granted: 2025-02-11 - Earliest claimed: 2019-10-16 - Assignees: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation - Applicants: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation - Inventors: Naotaka Shibata; Keita Takahashi; Jun Terada - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12225446B2 ## CPC - H04W 40/12: based on transmission quality or channel quality - H04W 88/08: Access point devices - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract A signal transfer control apparatus that performs a control operation to switch a plurality of communication paths constituted by a plurality of signal transfer apparatuses transferring a signal includes: a fixed delay information acquisition unit that acquires fixed delay information for each of the plurality of communication paths; a traffic information acquisition unit that acquires traffic information indicating a traffic volume or each of the plurality of communication paths; a probability density function estimation unit that estimates a probability density function of a traffic volume of each of the plurality of communication paths based on the traffic information; an occurrence probability estimation unit that estimates an occurrence probability of variable delay in each of the plurality of communication paths based on the probability density function of each of the plurality of communication paths; a communication path calculation unit that performs a calculation for specifying a communication path which is highly likely to satisfy a predetermined delay condition based on the occurrence probability of the variable delay in each of the plurality of communication paths and the fixed delay information for each of the plurality of communication paths; and a setting instruction unit that outputs a setting instruction for switching a transfer destination of a signal to at least any one of the signal transfer apparatuses so that the signal is transferred via the communication path specified by the calculation performed by the communication path calculation unit. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A signal transfer control apparatus that performs a control operation to switch a plurality of communication paths constituted by a plurality of signal transfer apparatuses transferring a signal, the signal transfer control apparatus comprising: a fixed delay information acquisition unit that acquires fixed delay information for each of the plurality of communication paths; a traffic information acquisition unit that acquires traffic information indicating a traffic volume of each of the plurality of communication paths; a probability density function estimation unit that estimates a probability density function of the traffic volume of each of the plurality of communication paths based on the traffic information; an occurrence probability estimation unit that estimates an occurrence probability of variable delay in each of the plurality of communication paths based on the probability density function of each of the plurality of communication paths; a communication path calculation unit that performs a calculation for specifying a communication path which is highly likely to satisfy a predetermined delay condition based on the occurrence probability of the variable delay in each of the plurality of communication paths and the fixed delay information for each of the plurality of communication paths; and a setting instruction unit that outputs a setting instruction for switching a transfer destination of the signal to at least any one of the signal transfer apparatuses so that the signal is transferred via the communication path specified by the calculation performed by the communication path calculation unit. ### Claim 2 A signal transfer control apparatus that performs a control operation to switch a plurality of communication paths constituted by a plurality of signal transfer apparatuses transferring a signal, the signal transfer control apparatus comprising: a fixed delay information acquisition unit that acquires fixed delay information for each of the plurality of communication paths; a traffic information acquisition unit that acquires traffic information indicating a traffic volume of each of the plurality of communication paths; a probability density function estimation unit that estimates a probability density function of a traffic volume of each of the plurality of communication paths based on the traffic information; a variable delay value estimation unit that estimates a variable delay value in each of the plurality of communication paths based on the probability density function of each of the plurality of communication paths and predetermined burst length information; a communication path calculation unit that performs a calculation for specifying a communication path which satisfies a predetermined delay condition based on the variable delay value in each of the plurality of communication paths and the fixed delay information for each of the plurality of communication paths; and a setting instruction unit that outputs a setting instruction for switching a transfer destination of a signal to at least any one of the signal transfer apparatuses so that the signal is transferred via the communication path specified by the calculation performed by the communication path calculation unit. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The signal transfer control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the traffic information acquisition unit acquires, as traffic information, a traffic volume of the signal transfer apparatus having a largest average output traffic volume among the plurality of signal transfer apparatuses. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The signal transfer control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication path calculation unit performs the calculation for specifying the communication path based on additivity of a mean and variance of traffic volumes indicated in the traffic information acquired by the traffic information acquisition unit. ### Claim 5 A signal transfer control method for performing a control operation to switch a plurality of communication paths constituted by a plurality of signal transfer apparatuses transferring a signal, the signal transfer control method comprising: a fixed delay information acquisition process that acquires fixed delay information for each of the plurality of communication paths; a traffic information acquisition process that acquires traffic information indicating a traffic volume of each of the plurality of communication paths; a probability density function estimation process that estimates a probability density function of a traffic volume of each of the plurality of communication paths based on the traffic information; an occurrence probability estimation process that estimates an occurrence probability of variable delay in each of the plurality of communication paths based on the probability density function of each of the plurality of communication paths; a communication path calculation process that performs a calculation for specifying a communication path which is highly likely to satisfy a predetermined delay condition based on the occurrence probability of the variable delay in each of the plurality of communication paths and the fixed delay information for each of the plurality of communication paths; and a setting instruction process that outputs a setting instruction for switching a transfer destination of a signal to at least any one of the signal transfer apparatuses so that the signal is transferred via the specified communication path. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The signal transfer control method according to claim 5 wherein the traffic information acquisition process acquires, as traffic information, a traffic volume of the signal transfer apparatus having a largest average output traffic volume among the plurality of signal transfer apparatuses. ### Claim 7 (depends on 5) The signal transfer control method according to claim 5, wherein the communication path calculation process performs a calculation for specifying a communication path based on additivity of a mean and variance of traffic volumes indicated in the traffic information acquired by the traffic information acquisition process.