JP2007181231A - Auto-connect method between radio communication apparatuses - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an auto-connect method for establishing a connection between a radio base station and a radio terminal station by automatically determining a radio base station with a best communication quality and issuing network setting information such as an IP address of the radio terminal station from a side of the radio base station in a case where the radio terminal station is installed, or the like. <P>SOLUTION: When beacons periodically transmitted from a plurality of radio base stations are received, a radio terminal station judges communication qualities of these beacons and determines a radio base station with a best communication quality as an association destination radio base station. When association information is requested to the association destination radio base station, radio terminal station network setting information is sent. On the basis of this information, network setting of the radio terminal station is performed and when an association information notification is transmitted to a network management system, a connection is established between the association destination radio base station and the radio terminal station. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a connection method between a radio base station and a radio terminal station in radio communication, and in particular, when a radio terminal station is installed, the radio base station having the best communication quality is automatically determined, and the radio terminal The present invention relates to an autoconnect method for establishing a connection between a radio base station and a radio terminal station by automatically performing network setting of the station.

Usually, in wireless communication, when installing a wireless terminal station at a customer's home, the installer selects a wireless base station to be connected in advance, and based on the selected wireless base station, the IP address of the wireless terminal station, It was necessary to investigate the subnet mask and default gateway, and to set up these networks by connecting a personal computer or the like to the wireless terminal station at the installation site. Therefore, the installer needed advanced network knowledge and skills. In addition, network disturbance or the like due to a network setting error for the wireless terminal station may occur. In addition, when a failure such as a failure of a wireless terminal station occurs, it is necessary to set by the contractor. In order to replace the wireless terminal station, only the wireless terminal station is sent to the customer and exchanged on the customer side. I couldn't. Therefore, the installer has to be dispatched to the customer installation location, and the cost associated with installation and replacement has been high. Further, even when a normal radio base station exists in the vicinity at the time of a failure on the radio base station side, the customer side cannot easily switch to a normal radio base station. That is, since the IP address of the wireless terminal station is managed for each wireless base station and cannot be switched unless the network settings on the wireless terminal station side are changed, the connection switching is switched to the normal wireless base station. Could not be done on the customer side.
IEEE Std 802.11, 1999 Edition for Information Technology - Telecommunications and Information Exchange between Systems - Local and Metropolitan Area Network - Specific Requirements - Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications p. 71-73

  As described above, installation of a wireless terminal station in conventional wireless communication has been problematic due to a network failure due to a setting error, an increase in enforcement cost due to dispatch of a constructor, and the like. In addition, when a failure occurs on the wireless base station side, a connection failure occurs that makes it impossible to perform communication for a long time because the connection cannot be easily switched on the customer side even though there is a normal wireless base station nearby. There were also problems such as.

  In view of such circumstances, the present invention automatically determines the radio base station with the best communication quality when installing the radio terminal station or when the radio base station fails, and the IP address of the radio terminal station, etc. The network setting information is issued from the wireless base station side to provide an autoconnect method for establishing a connection between the wireless base station and the wireless terminal station.

  In order to achieve the above-described object of the present invention, an autoconnect method for performing wireless communication between a wireless base station and a wireless terminal station according to the present invention is such that the plurality of wireless base stations periodically perform wireless communication. Each beacon including a base station identifier is transmitted, the wireless terminal station receives the transmitted beacon, determines the communication quality of the beacon transmitted from each wireless base station, and has the best communication quality. A wireless base station is determined as an association-destination wireless base station, and the wireless terminal station refers to the wireless base station identifier included in the beacon, and the determined association-destination wireless base station includes a wireless terminal station identifier. When the association destination wireless base station receives the association information request message, the association destination wireless base station receives the association information request message. An association information response message including wireless terminal station network setting information including a wireless terminal station IP address, a subnet mask, and a default gateway to be set in the wireless terminal station corresponding to the wireless terminal station identifier is transmitted to the wireless terminal station, When the wireless terminal station receives the association information response message, the wireless terminal station registers the wireless terminal station network setting information included in the association information response message and the wireless base station identifier corresponding to the association destination wireless base station with the wireless terminal station. Then, an association information setting completion notification including a wireless terminal station identifier is transmitted to the wireless base station, and when the association destination wireless base station receives the association information setting completion notification, the network management system receives the notification information setting completion notification. An association information notification including a terminal station identifier and a wireless terminal station IP address is transmitted, and when the network management system receives the association information notification, a connection between the association-destination wireless base station and the wireless terminal station is established. is there.

  Further, the wireless terminal station is connected to the plurality of wireless base stations and has an authentication function for authenticating whether or not the wireless terminal station is an authorized terminal, and before the wireless terminal station transmits the association information request message, the wireless terminal station Transmits an authentication request including the wireless terminal station identifier to the association-destination wireless base station, and when the association-destination wireless base station receives the authentication request, the authentication function is used to determine whether the wireless terminal station is a regular terminal. If the terminal is a legitimate terminal, the association-destination radio base station may transmit an authentication response message to the radio terminal station to permit reception of the association information request message.

  Furthermore, it has a wireless terminal station management system for managing wireless terminal stations, and the association information notification transmitted from the association-destination wireless base station to the network management system further includes a wireless base station IP address, and the network management The presence or absence of old association information is determined from the wireless terminal station identifier and the wireless base station IP address transmitted to the system using the wireless terminal station management system, and if there is old association information, the network management system The network management system that has received the service stop notification message of the old wireless terminal station IP address may release the old wireless terminal station IP address.

  The wireless terminal station has a wireless terminal station association table that stores the wireless base station identifier and wireless terminal station network setting information.

  Further, before the wireless terminal station receives the transmitted beacon, the information stored in the wireless terminal station association table is checked, and the information stored in the wireless terminal station association table is empty. For example, the process may proceed to the next step.

  Further, after determining the communication quality of the beacon and determining the association destination radio base station, the information stored in the radio terminal station association table is checked, and the radio base station of the determined association destination radio base station If the station identifier is the same as the wireless base station identifier stored in the wireless terminal station association table, the autoconnect process may be terminated.

  Further, when the connection is disconnected for a predetermined time after the connection between the association-destination radio base station and the radio terminal station is established, the radio terminal station association table may be reset to be empty.

  According to the above means, the following operation can be obtained. That is, the customer simply installs the wireless terminal station and turns on the power, and the wireless terminal station automatically searches for a wireless base station with good communication quality and automatically completes the network settings such as the IP address. This eliminates the need to dispatch the installer to the place where the wireless terminal station is installed, and the cost for performing the installation work is very low. In addition, since network settings are performed automatically, network failures due to setting errors are unlikely to occur. Furthermore, if a radio base station fails, a connection with another radio base station is automatically established. , It will be possible to always provide a good communication environment for customers.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network configuration for realizing the first embodiment of the autoconnect method of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a wireless terminal station, which is provided from a fixed wireless access (FWA) provider to a customer of the FWA provider and is installed in a house or the like. Reference numeral 2 denotes a wireless base station, and a plurality of wireless base stations 2 are provided on a power pole, an apartment roof, or the like so as to cover the wireless service area 3 provided by the FWA provider. In addition, an FWA operator network 4 is connected to the upper level of the radio base station 2, and an Internet network 5 is connected to the upper level. The wireless terminal station 1 is connected to a personal computer used by a customer. In the first embodiment, a network management system 6 for managing the wireless terminal station 1 is provided in the FWA operator network 4. The IP address of the wireless terminal station 1 is managed by an IP address management server function provided in each wireless base station 2 and an IP address management client function provided in the wireless terminal station 1. Hereinafter, the sequence of the autoconnect method of the present invention having these configurations will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The following description is a sequence conforming to the IEEE 802.11 specification, and is not limited to this. Various modifications can be made within the scope of the method described in the claims of the present invention. .

  FIG. 2 is a communication sequence between the radio base station, the radio terminal station, and the network management system in the autoconnect method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Each radio base station 2 periodically transmits a beacon. A beacon has the same frequency and radio wave for wireless communication, and a radio base station identifier such as a MAC address of the radio base station is superimposed on the beacon. The wireless terminal station 1 receives a beacon periodically transmitted from the wireless base station 2. When the wireless terminal station 1 is located where the wireless service areas 3 of the wireless base stations overlap, beacons from a plurality of wireless base stations 2 and 2 'are received. When receiving the beacons of a plurality of radio base stations 2 and 2 ', the communication quality such as the beacon reception sensitivity is determined, and the radio base station having the best communication quality, for example, the radio base station 2, is selected as the association destination radio base station. decide. Based on the wireless base station identifier included in the beacon issued by the determined association-destination wireless base station, the wireless base station 2 transmits an association request with the wireless terminal station identifier such as the MAC address of the wireless terminal station. The association destination radio base station 2 transmits an association response including its own radio base station identifier and the response destination radio terminal station identifier. The association request / association response is a sequence that complies with the IEEE 802.11 specification, and is a step that is not directly required in the autoconnect method of the present invention. The wireless terminal station 1 that has received the association response including its own wireless terminal station identifier transmits an association information request including the wireless terminal station identifier to the wireless base station 2 based on the wireless base station identifier. The association-destination radio base station 2 that has received the association information request sends an association information response including network setting information such as a radio terminal station IP address, a subnet mask, and a default gateway set in the radio terminal station 1 corresponding to the radio terminal station identifier. A message is transmitted to the wireless terminal station 1. The wireless terminal station 1 that has received the association information response message performs the network setting of the wireless terminal station based on the network setting information, registers the wireless base station identifier of the association-destination wireless base station 2, and then includes the wireless terminal station identifier. Send information setting completion notification. The wireless base station 2 that has received the association information setting completion notification associates the wireless terminal station IP address and wireless terminal station identifier set in the wireless terminal station 1 in the network management system 6 via the FWA operator network 4. Send a notification. When the network management system 6 receives the association information notification including the wireless terminal station IP address and the wireless terminal station identifier, the connection between the association-destination wireless base station 2 and the wireless terminal station 1 is established, and the network management system 6 enables remote management of the wireless terminal station 1.

  In this way, since the network setting of the wireless terminal station is automatically performed by the association-destination wireless base station that establishes the connection, it is not necessary to manually perform the network setting of the wireless terminal station, and it is necessary to dispatch a contractor Disappear. In addition, since the wireless terminal station automatically searches for a wireless base station with good communication quality, the connection with the wireless base station with the best communication quality is possible even at a point where wireless service areas provided by a plurality of wireless base stations overlap. Can be established.

  Next, a second embodiment of the autoconnect method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a network configuration for realizing the autoconnect method of the second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the portions denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. The illustrated example is characterized in that the network management system 6 in the FWA carrier network 4 of the first embodiment has an authentication function 7 for authenticating whether or not the wireless terminal station 1 is a regular terminal. The authentication function 7 stores a wireless terminal station identifier such as a MAC address of the wireless terminal station in a database in advance, and collates the requested wireless terminal station identifier against the database based on an authentication request from the wireless base station 2, This is to check whether the terminal station 1 is an authorized terminal. This is used, for example, to prevent the wireless terminal station from being connected to the wireless base station by unauthorized means. Hereinafter, the sequence of the autoconnect method according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a communication sequence between the radio base station, the radio terminal station, and the network management system in the autoconnect method according to the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the point in which an authentication process starts after the wireless terminal station receives the beacon from the wireless base station is different from the auto-connect sequence in FIG. Since other processes are the same process, detailed description is omitted. First, as in the first embodiment, each radio base station 2 periodically transmits a beacon. Then, the wireless terminal station 1 receives a beacon periodically transmitted from the wireless base station 2. The wireless terminal station 1 determines the communication quality of the beacon, and determines the wireless base station 2 with the highest communication quality as the association destination wireless base station. The process up to this point is the same as in the first embodiment. Next, the wireless terminal station 1 refers to the wireless base station identifier included in the beacon issued by the determined association-destination wireless base station, and the wireless terminal station 1 sends the wireless terminal station 2 the wireless terminal station whose MAC address is the wireless terminal station. Send an authentication request with an identifier. In addition, even if the wireless terminal station identifier uses a MAC address, so-called impersonation can be performed illegally, so it goes without saying that various techniques such as an encryption key can be used for security enhancement. . Upon receiving the authentication request message, the radio base station 2 transmits an authentication request to the network management system 6 in order to check whether the request is from a legitimate terminal. The network management system 6 collates the wireless terminal station identifier registered in advance with the wireless terminal station identifier in the authentication request message, and transmits the result and the wireless terminal station identifier to the wireless base station 2 on the authentication response message. To do. The radio base station 2 transmits an authentication response message to the radio terminal station 1 based on the radio terminal station identifier. If the wireless base station 2 is authenticated as a result of the authentication, the wireless base station 2 permits the request from the wireless terminal station 1. Thereafter, similarly to the first embodiment, the radio base station 2 returns an association response in response to the association request from the radio terminal station 1, and establishes the association. On the other hand, as a result of authentication, if the wireless terminal station identifier to be authenticated is not in the database of wireless terminal station identifiers registered in advance, it is determined that the wireless terminal station is not a legitimate wireless terminal station, and requests subsequent to the association request are rejected. To do.

  In this way, when establishing an association, it is possible to prevent unauthorized connection of a terminal station that is not a legitimate wireless terminal station by performing authentication of the wireless terminal station in advance. , Can enhance security.

  Next, a third embodiment of the autoconnect method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a network configuration for realizing the autoconnect method of the third embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the portions denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. The illustrated example is characterized in that a subscriber management system 8 is further provided in the FWA carrier network 4 of the first embodiment. The subscriber management system 8 is used for the purpose of unifying management of customer wireless terminals, and instructs the network management system to start and stop network services. Hereinafter, the sequence of the auto-connect method according to the third embodiment of the present invention having these configurations will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 6 shows a communication sequence among the radio base station, radio terminal station, network management system, and subscriber management system in the autoconnect method according to the third embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, after the network management system 6 receives the association information setting completion notification from the radio base station 2, the subscriber management system 8 is referred to, and the process of stopping and starting the service is entered. This is a different point from this sequence. Since other processes are the same process, detailed description is omitted. Although the authentication process is also described in FIG. 6, it goes without saying that the authentication process may be omitted as shown in FIG. First, it is assumed that the wireless terminal station 1 has established an association with the wireless base station 2 '. After that, when communication with the radio base station 2 ′ becomes impossible due to a failure of the radio base station 2 ′, the radio terminal station 1 determines the communication quality of the beacon and communicates the most as in the other embodiments. A radio base station with good quality is determined as an association-destination radio base station. That is, the association with the radio base station 2 ', which is the old association destination, is terminated, and the radio base station 2 with the best communication quality is selected as the new association destination. Next, as in the second embodiment, the wireless terminal station 1 makes an authentication request to the wireless base station 2, and if authenticated, makes an association request. Further, by making an association information request, the wireless base station 2 sends network setting information to the wireless terminal station 1, and the wireless terminal station 1 performs network setting of its own station and sends an association information setting completion notification to the wireless base station. 2 to send. Upon receiving the association information setting completion notification, the wireless base station 2 performs subscriber management via the network management system 6 for association information notification including the wireless terminal station identifier, wireless terminal station IP address, and wireless base station IP address. Send to system 8. The subscriber management system 8 that has received the association information notification determines whether or not there is a radio base station having the old association information from the radio terminal station identifier and the radio base station IP address in the message. Specifically, referring to a database in the subscriber management system 8 in which association information in which a wireless terminal station identifier and a wireless base station IP address are associated is stored, a wireless terminal station identifier included in the association information notification, and The old association information is searched based on the radio base station IP address. If the subscriber management system 8 finds old association information, for example, association information between the radio base station 2 ′ and the radio terminal station 1 in this example, the subscriber management system 8 stops the service including the old radio base station IP address and the old radio terminal station identifier. A notification is transmitted to the network management system 6. Upon receiving the service stop notification, the network management system 6 transmits an IP address release request including the wireless terminal station identifier and the old wireless terminal station IP address to the wireless base station 2 ′ based on the old wireless base station IP address. Upon receiving the IP address release request, the radio base station 2 ′ releases the IP address issued to the radio terminal station 1, and then sends an IP address release response to the network management system 6 to stop the service. I do. Thereafter, the subscriber management system 8 transmits a service start notification including the radio base station IP address and the radio terminal station identifier of the radio base station 2 which is a new association destination to the network management system 6, whereby the radio terminal station 1 And the wireless base station 2 are completed, and the network management system 6 can manage the wireless terminal station 1.

  As described above, when a radio base station is out of order, a connection with another radio base station is automatically established, and a plurality of radios are obtained by using a subscriber management system that centrally manages association information. New and old associations between the base station and the wireless terminal station can be managed, and the management of the wireless terminal station in the network management system can be executed without contradiction.

  Here, an example of an association table included in the wireless terminal station 1 and the wireless base station 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram of the wireless terminal station association table. Each wireless terminal station has an association table as shown in the figure, and the association table stores an activation flag table that stores whether or not the wireless terminal station functions and an authentication result that stores an authentication result in the authentication step. A wireless base station identifier table that stores a wireless base station identifier of an associated wireless base station, for example, a wireless base station MAC address, a communication quality table that stores communication quality of a beacon from the associated wireless base station, It consists of a wireless terminal station IP address table, a subnet mask table, and a default gateway table that store the wireless terminal station IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway set in the wireless terminal station of the station. Needless to say, the authentication result table is unnecessary in the case of the simplified version in which the authentication process is omitted.

  FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram of a radio base station association table. The radio base station has an association table as shown in the figure, and an activation flag table for storing whether or not to associate with the radio terminal station for each radio terminal station connected to the radio base station; An authentication result table for storing an authentication result in the authentication step, a wireless terminal station identifier of the wireless terminal station, for example, a wireless terminal station identifier table for storing a wireless terminal station MAC address, and a wireless terminal station IP set in the wireless terminal station It consists of a wireless terminal station IP address table for storing addresses. The authentication result table is optional as described above. With reference to these association tables, the network management system can manage wireless terminal stations.

  Next, the flow of the autoconnect method of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 9, 10a and 10b. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the sequence on the wireless terminal station side. In the illustrated example, the second embodiment including the authentication process will be described as a base. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a simplified version in which the authentication process is omitted may be used. The wireless terminal station receives beacons from all wireless base stations included in the wireless service area (step 901). The wireless terminal station that has received the beacon executes an autoconnect process (step 902). The conditions for starting the auto-connect process may be such that the auto-connect process is started every time a beacon is received, so that a connection with a radio base station having a good communication quality is always established. Thus, for example, it may be started when the association table of the wireless terminal station is empty. When the autoconnect process is executed, the communication quality of the received beacon, for example, the reception level, error rate, etc. is determined to determine the association destination radio base station candidate (step 903). If there is a problem with this communication quality, the process is terminated (step 904). If there is no problem in the communication quality, it is checked whether or not the determined association destination radio base station candidate is the same as the radio base station to which a connection has been established so far (step 905). If they are the same, it is determined that there is no problem with the original settings, and the process is terminated. If a different radio base station has been determined as the association destination, it is determined that a radio base station with better communication quality has been found, and the radio terminal station transmits an authentication request to the radio base station (step 906). The authentication function of the network management system checks whether or not the wireless terminal station is a legitimate terminal, and receives an authentication response as a result (step 907). As a result of authentication, if it is determined that the terminal is not a legitimate terminal, the process is terminated (step 908). If it is authenticated as a legitimate terminal, the identification result of “OK” is stored in the authentication result table of the association table of the wireless terminal station, and an association request is transmitted to the association destination wireless base station (step 909). The association response issued in response is received (step 910). Steps 909 and 910 are sequences compliant with the IEEE 802.11 specification, and are steps that are not directly necessary for the autoconnect method of the present invention. Although not shown in the figure, when the terminal is authenticated, the authentication result is recorded in the authentication result table of the wireless terminal station association table. Then, an association information request is issued to the radio base station in order to obtain network setting information such as an IP address, a subnet mask, and a default gateway (step 911). In response to this, the wireless base station receives an association information response including network setting information (step 912). Based on the received association information response, predetermined information is stored in a predetermined location of the association table of the wireless terminal station, network setting is performed, and an activation flag is turned ON (step 913). Then, an association information setting completion notification is transmitted to the radio base station (step 914), a connection with the radio base station is established, and the auto-connect sequence ends.

  Next, the sequence on the radio base station side will be described with reference to FIGS. 10a and 10b. 10a and 10b are flowcharts for explaining the sequence on the radio base station side. The radio base station periodically transmits a beacon (step 1001) and executes an autoconnect process (step 1002). When an authentication request for checking whether or not the terminal is a legitimate terminal is received from the wireless terminal station (step 1003), the authentication request is transmitted to the network management system (step 1004), and the authentication issued from the network management system in response thereto A response is received (step 1005). If the authentication result indicates that the terminal is not a legitimate terminal, an authentication response for rejection is transmitted to the wireless terminal station (step 1007), the link with the wireless terminal station is disconnected (step 1008), and the process is terminated. In the case of a regular terminal, an authentication response for permission is transmitted to the wireless terminal station (step 1009), and the authentication result of “OK” is stored in the authentication result table of the association table corresponding to each wireless terminal station of the wireless base station. (Step 1010). Then, an association request from the wireless terminal station is received (step 1011), the association table corresponding to the wireless terminal station that issued the request is referred to, and if the authentication result table is not “OK” (step 1012), the process ends. If it is “OK”, an association response is transmitted to the wireless terminal station (step 1013). Thereafter, when an association information request is received from the wireless terminal station (step 1014), the authentication result table is referred to (step 1015). If the request is from a regular terminal, the IP address assigned to the wireless terminal station is assigned to the wireless base station. Is acquired from the IP address pool managed by the server (step 1016). After obtaining the subnet mask and default gateway (step 1017), an association information response is transmitted to the wireless terminal station (step 1018). In response to the association information response, the wireless terminal station performs network setting, and when an association completion notification is received from the wireless terminal station to notify that the setting has been completed (step 1019), the association information notification is sent to the network management system (step 1020). Further, predetermined information such as a wireless terminal station identifier is stored in an association table corresponding to the wireless terminal station included in the wireless base station, the activation flag is turned ON (step 1021), and the process is terminated.

  When the IP address release request transmitted from the network management system is received (step 1051), the old wireless terminal station IP address is released (step 1052), and the corresponding wireless terminal station in the association table of the wireless base station is released. Is deleted (step 1053), and the process is terminated. In the illustrated example, the IP address release process of the old wireless terminal station is shown after step 1002, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the IP address release request can be received at any time. It may be after or before the process.

  Next, the auto-connect initial setting process of the wireless terminal station will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining the wireless terminal station auto-connect initial setting process. First, when the wireless terminal station is turned on or a wireless link failure is detected, an auto-connect initial setting process of the wireless terminal station is executed (step 1101). If the power is turned on (step 1102), the wireless terminal station association table is reset (step 1103) to newly execute the autoconnect process, and the initial setting process is terminated. On the other hand, if it is a radio link failure (step 1104), it is determined whether this failure is temporary or long-term (step 1105). Specifically, for example, if a radio link failure has occurred continuously for 5 minutes, it is determined as a long-term failure, and the association table is reset in order to execute an autoconnect process with another radio base station. (Step 1103), and the initial setting process ends. If the radio link failure is less than 5 minutes, it is determined as an intermittent failure, and the process ends with the association table held.

  Thus, when the power of the wireless terminal station is turned on, for example, it is estimated that the wireless terminal station is newly installed in the customer, and the association table of the wireless terminal station is reset. In addition, when it is detected that a wireless link failure, for example, a wireless communication with a wireless base station cannot establish a link due to a communication failure or the like, an association table of the wireless terminal station is used to attempt auto-connect with another wireless base station. To reset. That is, when the association table of the wireless terminal station is reset, the network setting of the own station is not performed, so that a beacon from the wireless base station is transmitted. Then, step 901 in FIG. 9 is executed.

  Next, the initial setting process of the auto-connect of the radio base station will be described using FIG. FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining a radio base station auto-connect initial setting process. First, when a wireless link failure in wireless communication with a wireless terminal station is detected (step 1201), a wireless base station autoconnect initial setting process is executed (step 1202). Here, it is determined whether the radio link failure is temporary or long-term (step 1203). Specifically, for example, if a radio link failure has occurred continuously for 10 minutes, it is determined that the failure is a long-term failure, and the wireless terminal station IP address issued to the wireless terminal station at the failure destination is released. (Step 1204), the association table corresponding to the wireless terminal station of the wireless base station is reset (Step 1205), and the initial setting process is terminated. If the radio link failure is less than 10 minutes, it is determined as an intermittent failure, and the process is terminated while the association table is retained.

  In this way, for example, when a failed wireless terminal station is removed, the wireless base station auto-connect initial setting process is executed, and by releasing the IP address that has been issued so far, the useless IP address can be reduced. Eliminate the shortage of IP addresses. Then, it waits for an authentication request or association information request from a new wireless terminal station. That is, step 1002 of FIG. 10a is executed.

  As described above, when the association table is reset by performing the steps as described above, it automatically operates to establish a new connection. When a new wireless terminal station is installed due to failure, it is not necessary to dispatch a contractor, and the wireless terminal station network settings are automatically completed just by turning on the wireless terminal station. A connection with a good wireless base station can be automatically established. The customer only needs to turn on the power of the wireless terminal station sent from the ISP, etc., and the network setting of the wireless terminal station is completed, and the connection with the wireless base station is automatically established. The burden on new subscribers can be greatly reduced. Further, even in the case of a radio base station failure or the like, the wireless communication can be continued by automatically switching to another radio base station with good communication quality, so that it is possible to provide a robust service against the failure. Furthermore, if the customer turns off the power by himself / herself and the specified time elapses, the association table of the wireless terminal station is reset, so when the wireless communication with the wireless base station is unstable, the association table is reset at the customer's will. Thus, it is possible to attempt connection with another wireless terminal station.

  It should be noted that the auto-connect method between wireless communication apparatuses of the present invention is not limited to the illustrated example described above, and it is needless to say that various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

  As described above, according to the auto-connect method between wireless communication apparatuses of the present invention, when a wireless terminal station is installed or when a wireless base station fails, the wireless base station with the best communication quality is automatically selected. By determining and issuing the network setting information such as the IP address of the wireless terminal station from the wireless base station side, it is possible to achieve an excellent effect that the connection between the wireless base station and the wireless terminal station can be automatically and reliably performed. .

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network configuration for realizing the first embodiment of the autoconnect method of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a communication sequence of the autoconnect method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a network configuration for realizing the second embodiment of the autoconnect method of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a communication sequence of the autoconnect method of the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a network configuration for realizing the third embodiment of the autoconnect method of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a communication sequence of the autoconnect method of the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram of an association table possessed by the wireless terminal station. FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram of an association table included in the radio base station. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the sequence on the wireless terminal station side. FIG. 10a is a flowchart for explaining the sequence on the radio base station side. FIG. 10b is a flowchart for explaining the sequence on the radio base station side. FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining the wireless terminal station auto-connect initial setting process. FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining a radio base station auto-connect initial setting process.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wireless terminal station 2 Wireless base station 3 Wireless service area 4 FWA provider network 5 Internet network 6 Network management system 7 Authentication function 8 Subscriber management system

Claims (1)

An autoconnect method for selectively performing radio communication between a plurality of radio base stations connected to a network management system and a radio terminal station, the method comprising:
The plurality of radio base stations each periodically transmit a beacon including each radio base station identifier,
The wireless terminal station receives the beacon transmitted from the plurality of wireless base stations, determines the communication quality of the beacon transmitted from each wireless base station, and associates the wireless base station with the best communication quality with the association destination Decide on a radio base station,
The wireless terminal station transmits an association information request message including a wireless terminal station identifier to a wireless base station determined as an association-destination wireless base station with reference to the wireless base station identifier included in the beacon. ,
When the wireless base station determined as the association-destination wireless base station receives the association information request message, at least a wireless terminal station IP address, a subnet mask, set in the wireless terminal station corresponding to the wireless terminal station identifier, Sending an association information response message including wireless terminal station network setting information consisting of a default gateway to the wireless terminal station;
When the wireless terminal station receives the association information response message, the wireless terminal station receives the wireless terminal station network setting information included in the association information response message and the wireless base station identifier corresponding to the association target wireless base station to the wireless terminal station. Registering and sending an association information setting completion notification including a radio terminal station identifier to the radio base station determined as the association destination radio base station,
When the wireless base station determined as the association-destination wireless base station receives the association information setting completion notification, an association information notification including the wireless terminal station identifier and the wireless terminal station IP address is sent to the network management system. Send
When receiving the association information notification, the network management system establishes a connection between the radio base station and the radio terminal station determined as the association destination radio base station,
An auto-connect method characterized by that.

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