JP2008167149A - Communication method and communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a radio communication method for improving the usage efficiency of a communication band while avoiding interference between a radio LAN and a radio PAN (Personal Area Network) in a network in which there are a plurality of radio common terminals having both functions of the radio LAN and the radio PAN. <P>SOLUTION: A communication inhibition period setting frame of the radio LAN transmitted by another radio common terminal is received, a communication slot of the radio PAN is synchronized with a communication inhibition period, and the communication slot of the radio PAN is synchronized on a time base among a plurality of radio common terminals. When a communication request for the radio PAN occurs, communication of the radio PAN is performed by utilizing the communication slot of the radio PAN synchronized with the communication inhibition period of the radio LAN. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a terminal having two different communication functions, and more particularly, to a transmission method and a transmission apparatus for efficiently using a band while avoiding mutual interference.

  In recent years, with the spread of wireless LAN terminals, it has become common to connect to an Internet service provider via a wireless LAN system using a notebook personal computer or the like to access the Internet in a home or office. Yes. Similarly, it is becoming common to connect a personal computer or a portable information terminal and a peripheral device such as a printer or a digital camera by a wireless PAN (Personal Area Network) system.

  Furthermore, recently, functions of both a wireless LAN and a wireless PAN are shared within a single terminal, and the Internet network is accessed by the wireless LAN, and communication with peripheral devices is performed by the wireless PAN. As an example of using this method, a wireless portable terminal having both functions of a wireless LAN and a wireless PAN performs VoIP communication using the wireless LAN, and transmits the VoIP voice to the wireless headset via the wireless PAN. Cases.

  As a wireless LAN standard, there is IEEE 802.11 (IEEE Std 802.11-1997 Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) specification). Moreover, there is Bluetooth (registered trademark) as a standard of the wireless PAN, and both IEEE 802.11 and Bluetooth communicate using a frequency of 2.4 GHz band.

  However, IEEE 802.11 and Bluetooth use the same frequency band, but each standard only defines an interference avoidance mechanism between the same systems. The mechanism for avoiding interference between systems is Not defined. Therefore, if there is no function for avoiding interference between the wireless LAN and Bluetooth, wireless terminals (hereinafter referred to as wireless joint terminals) having both the wireless LAN and Bluetooth functions are exposed to mutual interference.

  As a method for avoiding such interference between the wireless LAN and Bluetooth, there is a wireless communication method described in Patent Document 1. Hereinafter, a conventional wireless communication method for avoiding interference between a wireless LAN and Bluetooth will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a device configuration of a conventional wireless joint terminal. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 200 denotes a joint transceiver, and the joint transceiver 200 performs wireless LAN transmission / reception unit 201, wireless LAN baseband processing unit 202, Bluetooth transmission / reception unit 203, Bluetooth baseband processing unit 204, and wireless LAN and Bluetooth protocol conversion. The interconnecting unit 205 includes a driver 206 for the joint transceiver 200 that performs upper layer protocol processing.

  FIG. 7 shows signals on the time axis when Bluetooth performs voice communication, and this is called an SCO (Synchronous Connection-Oriented) link. In FIG. 7, the basic sequence is periodically repeated in 3.75 msec units, and this is divided into 625 μsec time interval slots (hereinafter referred to as SCO slots). In the SCO link, two consecutive SCO slots for transmission and reception are always used in pairs. The Bluetooth baseband processing unit 204 controls these SCO slots.

  FIG. 8 shows a state where the wireless joint terminal configured as shown in FIG. 6 performs Bluetooth SCO link communication while avoiding interference between the wireless LAN and Bluetooth.

  In FIG. 8, the joint terminal 1 has both wireless LAN and Bluetooth functions, communicates with the wireless LAN terminal 3 via the wireless LAN transmission / reception unit 201, and communicates with the Bluetooth terminal 2 via the Bluetooth transmission / reception unit 203. It is carried out.

  The wireless joint terminal 1 transmits a transmission request (RTS: Request to Send) frame 210 to the wireless LAN terminal 3 before starting communication with the Bluetooth terminal 2 through the SCO link. A Duration field is provided in the RTS frame 210, and peripheral wireless LAN terminals that have received the RTS frame 210 prohibit transmission during a NAV (Network Allocation Vector) period indicated in the Duration field. The wireless LAN terminal 3 that has received the RTS frame 210 transmits a transmission request response (CTS: Clear to Send) frame 212. Similarly, the Duration field is provided in the CTS frame, and the NAV can be set. By exchanging the RTS frame 210 and the CTS frame 212, the wireless joint terminal 1 sets a wireless LAN communication prohibition period 211 for the peripheral wireless LAN terminals, and the wireless LAN terminal 3 connects the wireless LAN terminals to the peripheral wireless LAN terminals. A communication prohibition period 213 is set. Here, the wireless LAN communication prohibition period is set to a period until communication by the SCO link ends.

  Thus, during the set wireless LAN communication prohibition period, the wireless joint terminal 1 and the Bluetooth terminal 2 perform SCO link communication, and transmit / receive the Bluetooth packets 214 and 215.

With the above operation, it is possible to avoid interference between wireless LAN communication and Bluetooth communication.
JP 2002-319948 A (page 5, FIG. 2)

  In the conventional wireless communication method, there is no problem if only one wireless joint terminal exists in the wireless LAN communication area. However, when there are multiple wireless joint terminals, wireless joint communication is possible because the wireless joint terminals individually set the wireless LAN communication prohibition period in order to secure an SCO slot for Bluetooth communication. There is a possibility that the period will be lost and wireless LAN communication cannot be performed.

  Therefore, the conventional wireless communication method occupies the wireless communication band wastefully because the wireless LAN communication prohibited period is individually set even when the Bluetooth communication of the wireless joint terminal is in a position where they do not interfere with each other. Had problems.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and aims to avoid mutual interference and to efficiently use a band when there are two different communications that perform communication by sharing a communication band. And

  In order to achieve the above object, a first invention in the present invention comprises a first communication means for performing communication in accordance with a first communication protocol and a second communication means for performing communication in accordance with a second communication protocol. The first communication means receives the communication prohibited period setting frame indicating the setting of the communication prohibited period in the first communication protocol transmitted from the other communication apparatus. The second step of determining whether or not the second communication means is communicable during the communication prohibition period, and the communication prohibition period when it is determined that communication is possible in the second step. The second communication means has a third step of performing communication.

  According to the communication method of the first invention, communication according to the second communication protocol, which is less likely to interfere with each other compared to communication according to the first communication protocol, is performed in parallel between a plurality of sets of communication devices. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently use the bandwidth.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication apparatus comprising: a first communication unit that performs communication according to a first communication protocol; and a second communication unit that performs communication according to a second communication protocol. The first communication means performs communication in the second communication means during the communication prohibition period and information indicating the setting of the communication prohibition period in the first communication protocol transmitted from another communication device. A first step of receiving a communication prohibition period setting frame including information indicating that it is possible, and a second step of second communication means performing communication during the communication prohibition period.

  According to the communication method of the second invention, communication according to the second communication protocol that is less likely to interfere with each other compared to communication according to the first communication protocol is performed in parallel between a plurality of sets of communication devices. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently use the bandwidth.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication apparatus comprising: a first communication unit that performs communication according to a first communication protocol; and a second communication unit that performs communication according to a second communication protocol. When the communication in the second communication unit is performed using a periodic communicable period that is repeated at a predetermined cycle, the first communication unit performs the second communication in the other communication device. A first step of receiving a synchronization timing instruction frame indicating the timing of the communicable period of the communication means, and a second step of changing the timing of the communicable period in the second communication means based on the synchronization timing instruction frame. Have.

  According to the communication method of the third invention, the communication possible periods of the second communication means are arranged so as to overlap in time even if the communication devices are in a positional relationship where communication according to the second communication protocol is not possible. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently use the bandwidth.

  According to the wireless communication method of the present invention, when there are two different communication protocols for performing communication in a situation where the communication band is shared or communication may interfere with each other, the band is efficiently used. Is possible.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  Here, a wireless joint terminal having both wireless LAN and Bluetooth wireless communication functions as in the prior art will be described as an example.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a wireless network to which the wireless communication method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is applied.

  In FIG. 1, the wireless LAN communicable areas of the wireless joint terminals 20 and 30 having both wireless LAN and Bluetooth wireless communication functions are wireless LAN communicable areas 11, and each communicates with the access point 10 via the wireless LAN. . The Bluetooth communicable areas of the wireless joint terminals 20 and 30 are the Bluetooth communicable areas 21 and 31, respectively, and perform SCO link communication with the Bluetooth terminals 22 and 32, respectively.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the wireless joint terminals 20 and 30. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 100 denotes a joint transceiver. The joint transceiver 100 performs processing of a wireless LAN transmission / reception unit 101 that transmits / receives an RF signal to / from another wireless LAN terminal and converts it to a baseband signal, and processing of a physical layer and a MAC layer of the wireless LAN A wireless LAN baseband processing unit 102 that performs processing, a Bluetooth transmission / reception unit 103 that transmits / receives RF signals to / from other Bluetooth terminals and converts them into baseband signals, a Bluetooth baseband processing unit 104 that performs processing of the physical layer and MAC layer of Bluetooth, An interconnection unit 105 that performs protocol conversion between LAN and Bluetooth, a CTS processing unit 107 that analyzes a CTS frame received by the wireless LAN baseband processing unit 102, and a Bluetooth SCO slot in accordance with the reception timing of the CTS frame. Is constituted by the synchronization control unit 108 for outputting a preparative synchronization signal, 106 is a joint transceiver 100 driver for performing protocol processing of interface processing and upper layer of the upper layer.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the CTS processing unit 107. A process performed by the CTS processing unit 107 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The CTS processing unit 107 determines whether or not the SCO link of the Bluetooth communication radio joint terminal 20 is in a synchronization established state with the SCO link of another terminal (step 110). If synchronization is not established, the wireless LAN baseband processing unit 102 is requested to transmit a CTS frame that prohibits wireless LAN transmission for the SCO link (step 111). Next, when the SCO link is in a synchronization established state, the CTS processing unit 107 receives the CTS frame from the wireless LAN frame received and processed by the wireless LAN baseband processing unit 102 together with the reception timing (step 112). . When the CTS frame is received, the CTS frame is analyzed to determine whether this is a Bluetooth SCO link NAV setting (step 113). When it is determined that the NAV setting for the SCO link is set, a synchronization request signal is transmitted to the synchronization control unit 108 together with the NAV setting period. The CTS processing unit 107 repeats the above operation.

  When the CTS processing unit 107 transmits a CTS frame that prohibits wireless LAN transmission for the SCO link, the CTS frame response is returned to the RTS frame in the normal wireless LAN, so the destination of the CTS frame is the source of the RTS frame. In this case, by transmitting a CTS frame addressed to its own address, other wireless LAN terminals are prevented from responding to this CTS frame.

  The transmission prohibition period (NAV) set in the Duration field of the CTS frame is set to a value longer than 2SCO slots, that is, 1.25 msec for a predetermined period. This is in order to avoid interference due to a time or timing shift for switching between wireless LAN and Bluetooth transmission, and it is desirable to determine this value by actual measurement.

  Next, a method for determining whether or not the CTS frame is the SCO link NAV setting in step 113 will be described. Each slot of the SCO link is repeated with a period of 3.75 msec in a period of 625 μsec. Therefore, the reception timing of the CTS frame received from the wireless LAN baseband processing unit 102 is held, and the determination is made by measuring the reception period of the CTS frame. Is possible. Furthermore, if it is determined that the NAV setting period set in the CTS frame is always set to 1.25 msec or a value slightly longer than that, the CTS frame is set to the SCO link NAV setting. Certainty is higher than whether or not.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the synchronization control unit 108. In FIG. 4, when the synchronization control unit 108 receives the synchronization request signal from the CTS processing unit 107 (step 120), the synchronization control unit 108 determines whether or not the synchronization between the wireless LAN transmission prohibition period and the Bluetooth transmission possible period is in an established state. (Step 121). This synchronization establishment state is held in the synchronization control unit 108 and notified to the CTS processing unit in response to a request from the CTS processing unit 107. If the synchronization is not established, the synchronization control unit 108 outputs a synchronization timing signal to the Bluetooth baseband processing unit 103, and the head position of the SCO slot is set after the elapse of a predetermined time from the head of the SCO link NAV setting period. Notification is made to set (step 122). Here, the predetermined time is the time required for internal processing such as baseband processing. Next, when the synchronization is established, the synchronization control unit outputs a synchronization timing signal to the Bluetooth baseband processing unit 103, and the head position of the SCO slot is set to a predetermined time from the head of the SCO link NAV setting period. Notification is made to correct after the passage (step 123).

  When receiving the synchronization timing signal and the SCO slot setting notification or the SCO slot correction notification, the Bluetooth baseband processing unit 103 matches the head position of the SCO slot according to the synchronization timing signal.

  A method in which the wireless joint terminals 20 and 30 configured as described above perform wireless LAN and Bluetooth communication while avoiding interference with each other will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the frames transmitted and received by the wireless joint terminals 20 and 30 and the communication prohibition period on the time axis. In FIG. 5, first, the wireless joint terminal 20 starts transmission of the CTS frame 150 from time T10 in order to perform SCO link communication in Bluetooth, and sets a wireless LAN communication prohibition period 151. The wireless LAN communication prohibition period 151 is set to a time corresponding to two SCO slots from time T11 to time T13. In FIG. 5, for the sake of simplicity, the reception end time of the CTS frame is set to the same time T10 at the head position of the SCO slot. However, in actual use, the head position of the SCO slot is delayed in consideration of the internal processing delay of the joint transceiver. Is desirable. During the wireless LAN communication prohibition period 151, the joint terminal 20 transmits and receives Bluetooth packets to and from the Bluetooth terminal 22 according to the SCO link.

  Next, when the wireless LAN communication prohibition period 151 ends, wireless LAN communication is possible. Therefore, the wireless joint terminal 20 can access the access point 10 or other time between the wireless LAN communication possible period 152 and time T14 to time T15. A wireless LAN frame is transmitted / received to / from the wireless LAN terminal. At this time, since the wireless joint terminal 20 knows the next CTS frame transmission time T20 in advance, even if there is a request to transmit the wireless LAN frame, the wireless LAN frame and its response confirmation are not completed by time T15. In this case, the transmission of the wireless LAN frame is stopped.

  When the time T20 comes, the joint terminal 20 repeats the operation from the time T10. Here, when the head of the SCO slot is shifted from the time T21 when the CTS frame 160 is received, the head position of the SCO slot is corrected to the time T21. The wireless joint terminal 20 repeats the above operation.

  Next, a case where an SCO link communication request is generated between the wireless joint terminal 30 and the Bluetooth terminal 32 will be described. The wireless joint terminal 30 receives the CTS frame transmitted from the wireless joint terminal 20 in advance, holds the reception end timing times T11, T21, and the like. When these time intervals are 3.75 msec, the SCO slot Is adjusted to coincide with the time T11, T21, etc. Since the wireless joint terminal 30 is synchronized with the wireless LAN communication prohibition period of the wireless joint terminal 20, the wireless joint terminal 30 does not itself transmit the SCO link NAV setting CTS frame, but the SCO link NAV setting transmitted from the wireless joint terminal 20 Wait to receive a CTS frame. When the SCO link NAV setting CTS frame 170 transmitted by the wireless joint terminal 20 is received, the Bluetooth packet is transmitted / received to / from the Bluetooth terminal 32 in the SCO slot starting from time T31. During the synchronization, the wireless joint terminal 20 also transmits and receives Bluetooth packets. However, since the Bluetooth communicable areas 21 and 31 do not overlap each other, no interference occurs. When the wireless LAN communication prohibition period 171 ends at time T33, the wireless joint terminals 20 and 30 communicate with each other according to the wireless LAN protocol.

  In addition, even when there are multiple wireless joint terminals, it is possible to ensure the wireless LAN communication possible period of the wireless joint terminals by synchronizing the Bluetooth SCO slot, and the wireless band can be used efficiently. It becomes.

  In this embodiment, the wireless communication apparatus determines whether or not the NAV setting for the SCO link is made only on the receiving side of the CTS frame. As another method, the CTS for the SCO link NAV setting is used in advance. A frame may be defined separately. In this case, information indicating the SCO link NAV is added to the CTS frame.

  In this embodiment, the transmitting-side wireless communication device continuously transmits the CTS frame a plurality of times to indicate that the CTS frame is different from the normal CTS frame, and performs the SCO link NAV setting. May be.

  In the present embodiment, the Bluetooth SCO slot is described as being synchronized. However, it is not necessary to synchronize completely, and some errors may be included. For example, if Bluetooth SCO slots are temporally overlapped between a plurality of joint terminals, the wireless band can be used efficiently. Further, even if some errors are included in the synchronization of the SCO slot, mutual interference can be avoided if wireless LAN communication and Bluetooth communication are not performed simultaneously.

  In this embodiment, the radio joint terminal 20 transmits the SCO link NAV setting CTS frame. However, the access point 10 responds to the SCO link request from the radio joint terminal, and the SCO link NAV setting CTS frame is transmitted. A frame may be transmitted.

  In this embodiment, the wireless LAN transmission / reception unit 101 and the Bluetooth transmission / reception unit 103 are configured by separate blocks. However, the wireless LAN baseband processing unit 102 and the Bluetooth baseband processing unit 104 are shared by one block. Each baseband signal may be exchanged.

  In the first embodiment, the joint transceiver 100 may integrate the functions of each block with hardware to form an LSI.

  Of the blocks of the joint transceiver 100, only the functions of the blocks of the wireless LAN baseband processing unit 102, the Bluetooth baseband processing unit 104, the CTS processing unit 107, the synchronization control unit 108, and the interconnection unit 105 are implemented by hardware. The baseband signals may be exchanged between the external wireless LAN transmission / reception unit 101 and the Bluetooth transmission / reception unit 103 by integration.

  The name used here is LSI, but it may also be called IC, system LSI, super LSI, or ultra LSI depending on the degree of integration. Further, the method of circuit integration is not limited to LSI's, and implementation using dedicated circuitry or general purpose processors is also possible.

  In the first embodiment, the functions of the blocks of the joint transceiver 100 and the driver 106 may be programmed and executed by a computer or a DSP (digital signal processor).

  In the present embodiment, the implementation method of the present invention has been described for the case where both the first communication means and the second communication means are wireless, but the communication method of the two communication means is not limited to wireless. Absent. The system of the present invention can be applied if the first communication means and the second communication means affect at least one of the communications when they communicate simultaneously for reasons such as interference. In this case, one or both communication means may be wired communication such as PLC (Power Line Communication).

  Further, in the present embodiment, the case where communication of different communication methods such as Bluetooth and wireless LAN coexists has been described as an example, but the concept of the present invention can also be applied to the case where communication is performed using the same communication method. For example, if there are a plurality of communication devices that can perform communication by switching at least two different transmission powers, they communicate with each other when they communicate with high transmission power, but they communicate with each other with low communication power. If performed, there may occur a situation in which interference does not occur with each other, or interference occurs but communication is possible. In such a situation, before performing communication with a small transmission power, a communication prohibition period setting frame for setting a communication prohibition period is transmitted with a large transmission power, and the other communication prohibition period setting frame is received. If the communication device determines that the received communication prohibition period setting frame is for communication with low transmission power, it can efficiently use the bandwidth if communication is started with low transmission power. can do.

  The communication method according to the present invention has a plurality of wireless functions such as IEEE 802.11, which is a typical wireless LAN system using a 2.4 GHz band frequency, and Bluetooth, which is a typical wireless PAN system. It is useful as a wireless communication method in a network constituted by wireless terminals having the same.

  In particular, the present invention is useful as a portable wireless terminal that performs VoIP communication with a public line using IEEE802.11 and performs voice communication with a headset using Bluetooth.

  In addition, the present invention is useful when there are a plurality of wireless communication apparatuses having two wireless communication functions with different communication distances using overlapping frequency bands in a communication area of one of the wireless communication functions.

  The present invention is useful not only for wireless communication but also for a communication device having two different communication functions.

The figure which shows the structure of the radio | wireless communication network in Embodiment 1 of this invention. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a wireless communication apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The flowchart which showed the process sequence of the CTS process part of the radio | wireless communication apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The flowchart which showed the process sequence of the synchronous control part of the radio | wireless communication apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. Schematic diagram for explaining a wireless communication method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional wireless communication device Schematic diagram for explaining Bluetooth SCO link Schematic diagram for explaining a conventional wireless communication method

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Wireless LAN access point 11 Wireless LAN communicable area 20, 30 Wireless LAN and Bluetooth wireless joint terminal 21, 31 Bluetooth communicable area 22, 32 Bluetooth terminal 100 Joint transceiver 101 Wireless LAN transmission / reception part 102 Wireless LAN baseband processing part 103 Bluetooth transmission / reception unit 104 Bluetooth baseband processing unit 105 interconnection unit 106 driver 107 CTS processing unit 108 synchronization control unit 150, 160, 170 CTS frame 151, 161, 171 Wireless LAN communication prohibition period 152, 162, 172 Wireless LAN communication possible period 200 Joint Transceiver 201 Wireless LAN Transmission / Reception Unit 202 Wireless LAN Baseband Processing Unit 203 Bluetooth Transmission / Reception 204 Bluetooth baseband processing unit 205 interconnect 206 driver 210 RTS frame 211 wireless LAN communication prohibited period 212 CTS frame 213 wireless LAN communication prohibited period 214 and 215 Bluetooth packet

Claims (23)

A communication apparatus comprising: a first communication unit that performs communication according to a first communication protocol; and a second communication unit that performs communication according to a second communication protocol.
A first step in which the first communication means receives a communication prohibition period setting frame indicating a setting of a communication prohibition period in the first communication protocol transmitted from another communication device;
A second step of determining whether or not the second communication means can communicate during the communication prohibition period;
A communication method comprising: a third step in which the second communication means performs communication during the communication prohibition period when it is determined that communication is possible in the second step. The communication method is based on the reception interval of the communication prohibition period setting frame, so that the first communication unit ends communication before the other communication device transmits the communication prohibition period setting frame. The communication method according to claim 1, further comprising a fourth step of controlling one communication means. The communication prohibition period is set repeatedly at a predetermined cycle,
When communication in the second communication means is performed in a communicable period that is repeatedly set in the predetermined cycle,
The communication method further includes a fifth step of changing the timing of the communicable period based on the communication prohibition period setting frame so that the communicable period and the communication prohibition period overlap in time. Communication method. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the other communication device is a management station that manages the first communication protocol. In the second step, when the communication prohibition period setting frame includes information indicating that communication is possible in the second communication unit during the communication prohibition period, the second communication unit can communicate. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the communication method is determined to be present. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein, in the second step, the second communication unit determines that communication is possible when the communication prohibition period setting frame is continuously received a plurality of times. 2. The second step determines that the second communication means is communicable when the reception interval of the communication prohibition period setting frame is a cycle defined by the second communication protocol. Communication method. In the second step, the reception interval of the communication prohibition period setting frame is a cycle defined by the second communication protocol, and the set length of the communication prohibition period is the second communication protocol. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the second communication means determines that communication is possible when the transmission / reception slot length is defined. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the first communication protocol is IEEE 802.11, and the second communication protocol is Bluetooth. The first communication protocol is IEEE 802.11,
The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the communication prohibition period setting frame is an IEEE802.11 CTS frame whose destination is set to the other communication apparatus itself. The first communication protocol is IEEE 802.11, the second communication protocol is Bluetooth,
The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the SCO slot in the Bluetooth protocol and the transmission prohibition period are arranged so as to overlap in time. A communication apparatus comprising: a first communication unit that performs communication according to a first communication protocol; and a second communication unit that performs communication according to a second communication protocol.
The first communication means includes a step of transmitting a communication prohibited period setting frame indicating setting of a communication prohibited period in the first communication means,
The communication method, wherein the communication prohibition period setting frame includes information indicating that communication is possible in the second communication unit during the communication prohibition period. A communication apparatus comprising: a first communication unit that performs communication according to a first communication protocol; and a second communication unit that performs communication according to a second communication protocol.
When communication in the second communication means is performed using a communicable period repeated at a predetermined cycle,
A first step in which the first communication means receives a synchronization timing instruction frame indicating a timing of a communicable period of the second communication means in another communication device;
And a second step of changing the timing of the communicable period of the second communication means based on the synchronization timing instruction frame. The first communication protocol is IEEE 802.11, the second communication protocol is Bluetooth,
14. The communication method according to claim 13, wherein the synchronization timing instruction frame is a CTS frame, and the second communication means is a Bluetooth SCO link. A communication apparatus comprising: a first communication unit that performs communication according to a first communication protocol; and a second communication unit that performs communication according to a second communication protocol.
The first communication means transmits information indicating the setting of a communication prohibition period in the first communication protocol transmitted from another communication device, and the communication prohibition period setting frame includes the second information during the communication prohibition period. A first step of receiving a communication prohibition period setting frame including information indicating that communication is possible in the communication means;
And a second step in which the second communication means performs communication during the communication prohibition period. First communication means for performing communication in accordance with a first communication protocol; first baseband processing means for performing baseband processing of the first communication means;
A communication prohibition period setting frame processing means for analyzing the communication prohibition period setting frame transmitted from the other communication device by the first baseband processing means and outputting a synchronization establishment signal;
Second communication means for performing communication in accordance with the second communication protocol; second baseband processing means for performing baseband processing of the second communication means and performing transmission start processing in synchronization with the synchronization establishment signal; ,
Interconnect means for connecting the first baseband processing section having the first baseband processing means and the second baseband processing section having the second baseband means to perform communication protocol conversion with each other A communication device. Synchronous control that receives the synchronization establishment signal as an input, monitors the synchronization establishment state between the communication prohibited period and the communicable period in the second communication unit, and controls the second baseband processing unit according to the synchronization establishment state The communication apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising means. The communication apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the first communication protocol is IEEE 802.11. The communication apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the second communication protocol is Bluetooth. The communication prohibition period setting frame processing means measures a reception interval of the communication prohibition period setting frame, and when the reception interval is a transmission / reception cycle defined by the second communication protocol, the communication prohibition period is set to the first communication prohibition period. The communication apparatus according to claim 16, wherein it is determined that the communication period of the two communication units is communicable. The communication prohibition period setting frame processing means measures a reception interval of a communication prohibition period setting frame, the reception interval is a transmission / reception cycle defined by the second communication protocol, and the set communication prohibition period is 17. The method according to claim 16, wherein, when the transmission / reception slot length is defined by the second communication protocol, the communication prohibition period is determined to be a communicable period in the second communication unit. Communication device. An integrated circuit of a communication device,
The integrated circuit includes: a first communication unit that performs communication according to a first communication protocol; a first baseband processing unit that performs baseband processing of the first communication unit;
A communication prohibition period setting frame processing means for analyzing the communication prohibition period setting frame transmitted by the other communication device by the first baseband processing means and outputting a synchronization establishment progress;
Second communication means for performing communication in accordance with the second communication protocol; second baseband processing means for performing baseband processing of the second communication means and performing transmission start processing in synchronization with the synchronization establishment signal; ,
Interconnect means for connecting the first baseband processing section having the first baseband processing means and the second baseband processing section having the second baseband means to perform communication protocol conversion with each other And an integrated circuit. A program recording medium storing a program for realizing all or part of the functions of the communication method according to claim 1 by a computer.

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