JP2019125932A - Wireless communication device and wireless communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a wireless communication device and a wireless communication system in which a plurality of networks can coexist without shortening a communication frame slot.SOLUTION: A transmission timing of a beacon transmission unit 14 is assigned to a first time window TWin a beacon slot BS of a communication frame CF. When the own device is set as a master 10M, a beacon reception unit 15 receives a beacon signal 30 at any one of timings of second, ..., and Nth time windows TW, ..., and TWof beacon slots BS of wireless communication networks A, B, C, and D of the own device. When it is determined that the beacon signal 30 of other wireless communication networks A, B, C, and D has been received on the basis of the determination of a beacon determination unit 17, a timing adjustment unit 18 adjusts its own communication timings CT, CTa, CTb, CTc, and CTd.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless communication apparatus that establishes a wireless communication network and performs wireless communication among a plurality of apparatuses, and a wireless communication system.

  In recent years, a plurality of wireless communication devices are mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile, and it is considered to construct a wireless communication network for performing wireless communication among the plurality of devices. In this wireless communication network, for example, the master wireless communication device is assigned to each of the device types of a master wireless communication device that manages the entire network and a slave wireless communication device managed by the master wireless communication device. One network system centered on

In addition, in this wireless signal network, many methods have been proposed for preventing deterioration of communication quality due to interference of wireless communication among a plurality of devices, and, for example, each device has a beacon signal transmitted by a predetermined device. A scheme for performing wireless communication in synchronization is known. Communication management information and the like necessary for wireless communication including a communication frame and the like are added to the beacon signal. Also, the beacon signal is emitted according to a slot provided in the communication frame.
A slot is defined by time and is a periodic unit constituting a communication frame.

  Generally, many control systems such as an engine control system, a door control system, and a drive recorder system are mounted in a car, and a wireless communication network is constructed for each of these control systems. Therefore, a plurality of wireless communication networks coexist in the vehicle.

  As a wireless communication system in which a plurality of wireless communication networks coexist, in a parent network which is a wireless communication network located at the highest level, a communication terminal (wireless communication apparatus) under the control of a wireless base station has a function of a wireless base station Are known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In this wireless communication system, a child network (lower wireless communication network) is constructed within the range of the resource (for example, communication frame) of the own apparatus allocated by the wireless base station. Then, the resource of the own apparatus is divided, and the resources are allocated to the other communication terminals under the control of the own apparatus. As a result, the networks can coexist without the plurality of wireless communication networks synchronizing and colliding with each other. Also, it is said that such allocation by resource division can be applied to the construction of a wireless communication network (grand-child network) further below.

Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2003-143644

  However, in the wireless communication system described in Patent Document 1, the resource (for example, communication frame) of the parent network is divided, and a part thereof is allocated as a slot of the lower wireless communication network (child network). Furthermore, in this child network, slots of the child network are further divided and allocated to the wireless communication apparatus belonging to this network and the wireless communication network further below. Therefore, there is a possibility that the slot becomes shorter as it goes to the lower wireless communication network. If the slot is short, the transmission timing for transmitting the beacon signal is also short, and the construction of the wireless communication network may be delayed, and in the worst case, it may not be possible.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a wireless communication apparatus and a wireless communication system in which a plurality of networks can coexist without shortening a communication frame slot. It is.

The above object of the present invention is achieved by the following constitution.
(1)
A storage unit for storing a beacon signal having communication management information including information on a communication frame set in advance;
As a master wireless communication device that constructs a wireless communication network, a beacon transmission unit that transmits the beacon signal related to the wireless communication network of its own according to the communication frame;
A beacon receiver for receiving the beacon signal;
A beacon determination unit that determines whether the beacon signal received by the beacon reception unit has been transmitted by the master wireless communication device of another wireless communication network;
Based on the communication management information of the beacon signal of the other wireless communication network, its own communication timing including the transmission timing of the beacon transmission unit is time shifted so as to be different from the communication timing of the other wireless communication network Timing adjustment unit to adjust
A wireless communication device comprising:
(2)
A beacon slot is provided at the beginning of the communication frame,
The beacon slot has a time window of first, second,..., Nth (1, 2,..., N is a natural number and indicates the order from the beginning),
The transmission timing of the beacon transmission unit is assigned to the first time window,
The beacon receiving unit receives the beacon signal at any timing of the second to the Nth time windows of the beacon slot of the wireless communication network of its own,
When it is determined that the timing adjustment unit itself is set as the wireless communication device of the master and the beacon signal of another wireless communication network is received based on the determination of the beacon determination unit, The wireless communication apparatus according to (1), which adjusts the communication timing of itself.
(3)
The beacon signal further includes overlap time information on overlap times of the communication timing between itself and the other wireless communication network,
The wireless communication apparatus according to (2), wherein the timing adjustment unit adjusts the communication timing of itself based on the overlapping time information of the beacon signal.
(4)
The wireless communication apparatus according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the beacon signal further includes priority information on priority corresponding to each of the wireless communication networks.
(5)
A wireless communication system, comprising: a master wireless communication device constructing a wireless communication network; and a slave wireless communication device managed by the master wireless communication device,
A wireless communication system, wherein the wireless communication device of the master is the wireless communication device according to any one of (1) to (3).

According to the configuration of the wireless communication device of (1) or (2), the master wireless communication device transmits beacon signals of other wireless communication networks in the beacon slot of the communication frame via the slave wireless communication device. Since it can be received, the communication timing of its own communication frame can be time-shifted and adjusted. Therefore, since slots are shared among a plurality of wireless communication networks to establish communication synchronization, slots can be allocated uniformly and efficiently, and as a result, collision (duplication) of communication timing of communication frames can be avoided. Can. Thereby, a plurality of wireless communication networks can coexist without shortening the slot of the communication frame.
According to the configuration of the wireless communication apparatus of the above (3), it is possible to adjust the time of the communication timing overlapping condition individually between the plurality of wireless communication networks, and to adjust the time of the communication timing among the plurality of wireless communication networks. It can be done efficiently without waste.
According to the configuration of the wireless communication apparatus of (4), it is possible to perform communication synchronization based on a wireless communication network with higher priority among the plurality of wireless communication networks. Thus, among the plurality of wireless communication networks, the communication quality (the communication success rate, the transmission delay, and the like) of the entire wireless communication network is maintained without changing the communication timing of the high priority wireless communication network as much as possible. Can adjust the time of communication timing.
According to the configuration of the wireless communication apparatus of the above (5), it is possible to provide a wireless communication system in which a plurality of wireless communication networks can coexist without shortening the slot of the communication frame.

  According to the wireless communication apparatus and the wireless communication system of the present invention, a beacon slot is provided at the head portion of the communication frame, and the beacon slots have the first, second,. , N is a natural number, and has a time window (indicating the order from the top), and the transmission timing of the beacon transmission unit is assigned to the first time window. Also, in the case where the self is set as the master wireless communication device, the beacon reception unit beacons at any timing of the second,..., N-th time window of the beacon slot of the own wireless communication network. The signal is received, and when it is determined that the timing adjustment unit itself is set as the master wireless communication device and the beacon signal of another wireless communication network is received based on the determination of the beacon determination unit, Adjust self communication timing. Also, when the self is set as a slave wireless communication device, the beacon relay unit is set as a slave wireless communication device managed by the master wireless communication device, and the beacon determination unit , And Nth time windows of beacon slots of other wireless communication networks when it is determined that the beacon signal of both the self and the other wireless communication networks is received by the beacon receiving unit. The relay station relays and transmits beacon signals of its own wireless communication network at any timing.

  Therefore, since the master wireless communication device can receive beacon signals of other wireless communication networks in the beacon slot of the communication frame via the slave wireless communication device, it is possible to time the communication timing of its own communication frame. It can be adjusted by shifting. Therefore, since slots are shared among a plurality of wireless communication networks to establish communication synchronization, slots can be allocated uniformly and efficiently, and as a result, collision (duplication) of communication timing of communication frames can be avoided. Can. Thereby, a plurality of wireless communication networks can coexist without shortening the slot of the communication frame.

  The present invention has been briefly described above. Further, the details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading the modes for carrying out the invention described below (hereinafter, referred to as “embodiments”) with reference to the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view for explaining a situation in which there are a plurality of wireless communication networks constructed by the wireless communication system of the first embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining the configuration of a wireless communication system of one wireless communication network among the plurality of wireless networks shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram for explaining the configuration of a communication frame used in the wireless communication apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram for explaining the configuration of a beacon signal transmitted and received in the beacon slot shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram functionally illustrating the software configuration of the wireless communication apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the process of determining whether the wireless communication apparatus shown in FIG. 2 is the master or slave wireless communication apparatus. FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the master wireless communication apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is a time shift diagram for explaining a situation in which the timing adjustment unit shown in FIG. 5 adjusts the communication timing of its own wireless communication apparatus. FIG. 9 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the slave wireless communication apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram for explaining a situation in which four wireless communication networks shown in FIG. 1 exist. FIG. 11 is a time shift diagram for explaining the state of the result of adjusting the communication timings of the plurality of wireless communication networks shown in FIG. FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram for explaining another situation in which four wireless communication networks shown in FIG. 1 exist. FIG. 13 is a time shift diagram for explaining the situation in which the communication timings are adjusted with each other in the plurality of wireless communication networks shown in FIG. FIG. 14 is a configuration diagram for explaining the configuration of a beacon signal according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 15 is a time shift diagram for explaining a situation where the timing adjustment unit adjusts the communication timing of its own wireless communication apparatus based on the overlap time information in FIG. FIG. 16 is a configuration diagram for explaining the configuration of the beacon signal of the third embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 17 is a functional block diagram functionally illustrating the software configuration of the wireless communication apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 18 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the timing adjustment unit and the priority comparison unit shown in FIG. FIG. 19 is a time shift diagram for explaining how communication timings are adjusted to each other in a plurality of wireless communication networks in the third embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 20 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the timing adjustment unit and the priority comparison unit of the fourth embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 21 is a time shift diagram for explaining how communication timings are adjusted to each other in a plurality of wireless communication networks in the fourth embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 22 is a time shift diagram for explaining how communication timings are adjusted to each other in a plurality of other wireless communication networks in the fourth embodiment according to the present invention.

  A plurality of specific embodiments of the wireless communication apparatus and the wireless communication system of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  In addition, the "part" said by this embodiment is not limited only to the physical structure implement | achieved by the hardware, What contains the function which the structure has implement | achieved by softwares, such as a program, is also included. Further, the function of one configuration may be realized by two or more physical configurations, or the function of two or more configurations may be realized by, for example, one physical configuration.

First Embodiment
First, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 13, a first embodiment of a wireless communication apparatus and a wireless communication system according to the present invention will be described.
The wireless communication device and the wireless communication system of the present embodiment are mounted on a vehicle such as a car. Further, in the present embodiment, an ad hoc network (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “network”) is adopted as the wireless communication network. In this network, wireless communication devices basically located in the communication area can communicate with each other. Further, as a communication technology for constructing such a network, for example, a wireless LAN, Bluetooth (registered trademark), or the like can be used as appropriate.

<Configuration of Wireless Communication Network and Wireless Communication System>
The configurations of the wireless communication networks A and B and the wireless communication system 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a situation in which a plurality of (two in the present embodiment) networks A and B constructed by the wireless communication systems 1a and 1b of the present embodiment exist. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining the configuration of the wireless communication system 1a of the network A among the plurality of networks A and B. As shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in a vehicle such as an automobile, a plurality of (two in the present embodiment) wireless communication systems 1a and 1b exist for each control system such as an engine control system and a door control system, for example. Two networks A and B are constructed respectively. The networks A and B are constructed centering on wireless communication devices (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “masters”) 10 of masters 10Ma and 10Mb described later, and each have a communication area.

  In the present embodiment, the communication areas of the networks A and B are partially overlapped, and in this overlapping area, the slave 10Sa of the network A and the slave 10Sb of the network B, which will be described later, Also referred to as “slave”.) 10 is located. That is, these slaves 10Sa and 10Sb are located in the communication areas of both networks A and B, and can communicate with the masters 10Ma and 10Mb.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the wireless communication system 1a of the present embodiment has a master 10Ma that manages the entire network A, and a slave 10Sa managed by the master 10Ma. Wireless communication is performed. Also, for one network A, the master 10Ma is basically one. The same applies to the wireless communication system 1b of the network B.

In the wireless communication system 1a of this embodiment, a beacon signal 30 (described later) is exchanged between the master 10Ma and the slave 10Sa according to a communication frame CF (described later) set in advance. By this exchange, communication management information and the like necessary for wireless communication are provided from the master 10 Ma to the slave 10 Sa, and the network A is constructed based on the communication management information and the like. Then, by construction of the network A, transmission and reception of data signals are performed between the devices in the network A. That is, the beacon signal 30 is a signal essential for establishing wireless communication between devices.
As data signals to be transmitted and received in the network A, in addition to control data of the engine and control data of the door, arbitrary data signals such as moving images and images of the drive recorder are listed. Further, the communication frame CF is generated by the master 10Ma itself or preset from the outside as a parameter for the master 10Ma to manage the entire network A.

  The wireless communication device 10 may be a control device of an engine, a control device of a door, a control device such as a drive recorder device, or a recording device. Also, the wireless communication device 10 may be externally connected to or incorporated in these devices functioning as application devices.

<Composition of communication frame>
Next, with reference to FIG. 3, the communication frame CF of the beacon signal 30 which the master 10M and the slave 10S of this embodiment transmit and receive will be described. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram for explaining the configuration of a communication frame CF used in the wireless communication device 10 of the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 3, the communication frame CF is periodically generated based on a predetermined beacon transmission interval. Further, the communication frame CF is defined by a predetermined time, and is subdivided into a plurality of slots (period units) ST ₁ , ST ₂ ,..., ST _L (L is a natural number and indicates the number of slots). Network A, the wireless communication system 1 constituting each B share the communication frame CF as a predetermined period frames between devices, slots ST _1, ST 2, _..., transmission and reception of the data signal line to ST _L units It will be.
Note that the communication timing CT described later includes a beacon transmission interval and a beacon transmission timing, and means a cycle necessary to perform communication between the devices in each of the networks A and B.

The beginning of slot ST communication frame CF, i.e. the slot ST ₁ is a beacon slot BS is provided as a network management area for transmitting and receiving the communication management information by the beacon signal 30. During the beacon slot BS, the master 10M and the slave 10S exchange parameters for performing network management and access control between devices via the beacon signal 30. Also, in the slots after the beacon slot BS, as will be described later, allocation is performed as a cycle for transmitting or receiving various data signals between devices.

The beacon slot BS has a plurality of first, second,..., Nth (1, 2,..., N is a natural number and indicates the order from the top) at predetermined intervals, and the time window TW ₁ , TW ₂ ,..., TW _N are provided. In each time window TW of the beacon slot BS, the transmission timing when the master 10M transmits the beacon signal 30 and the reception timing when it is received, and the beacon signal 30 emitted by the slave 10S by the master 10M of itself or other networks A and B. The relay timing to relay and transmit is assigned. Specifically, the first time window TW ₁ of the beacon slot BS, along with transmission timing of the master 10M is allocated, a second beacon slot BS, ..., _TW 2 of the time window of the first N, ..., TW _N The reception timing of the master 10M or the relay timing of the slave 10S is assigned to either.

A plurality of communication slots CS are provided in the slot ST behind the beacon slot BS, that is, in the slots ST ₂ ,..., ST _L-1 . The wireless communication devices 10 in the networks A and B transmit and receive user information and the like during the communication slots CS. In addition, time windows TW ₁ and TW ₂ are also provided in the communication slot CS. Time window TW ₁ of the communication slot CS is an information data transmission and reception timings. Time window TW ₂ of the communication slot CS is the response signal reception timing.

End of the slot ST communication frame CF, i.e. allocation request slot IS is provided in the slot ST _L. The slave 10S which has generated user information to be transmitted transmits an allocation request of the communication slot CS to the master 10M during the allocation request slot IS. When the master 10M receives the communication slot assignment request from the slave 10S, the master 10M assigns the slave 10S of the transmission source of the assignment request to the communication slots CS after the next communication frame CF. Further, when the user information etc. to be transmitted by the master 10M is generated, the master 10M allocates itself to the communication slot CS after the next communication frame CF. When there is no allocation request from any of the slaves 10S and no transmission request from the master 10M is generated, the master 10M allocates the communication slot CS as the unused slot ST.
Similarly, in the allocation request slot IS, a plurality of first, second,..., Mth (1, 2,..., M are natural numbers and indicates the order from the head) time window TW ₁ , TW ₂ ,..., TW _m are provided. The time window TW of the allocation request slot IS is taken as the allocation request signal transmission / reception timing.

<Composition of beacon signal>
Next, the configuration of the beacon signal 30 exchanged in each time window TW of the beacon slot BS will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram for explaining the configuration of the beacon signal 30 transmitted and received in the beacon slot BS.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the beacon signal 30 includes beacon type information 31, transmitter ID information 32, beacon interval information 33, slot length information 34, and a plurality of first, second,. And allocation information 35.

  The beacon type information 31 is an identifier indicating whether the beacon signal 30 is directly transmitted by the master 10M or transmitted by the slave 10S as a relay. In addition, each wireless communication apparatus 10 is assigned a unique ID in advance. The transmitter ID information 32 is an identifier indicating which radio communication apparatus 10 has transmitted the beacon signal 30 based on this unique ID.

The beacon interval information 33 is time information indicating an interval (time) at which the beacon signal 30 is transmitted. The slot length information 34 is time information indicating the length (time) of the beacon slot BS from which the beacon signal 30 is transmitted. Further, allocation information 35 in the wireless communication system 1 of the present embodiment, first, second beacon slot BS, ..., time window _{TW 1,} TW 2 of the second N, ..., to TW _N, beacon signals 30 Are information indicating the allocation status of the transmission timing of the master 10M, the reception timing of the master 10M, and the relay timing of the slave 10S. That is, beacon signal 30 has communication management information including information on communication frame CF by including beacon interval information 33, time information of slot length information 34, allocation information 35 of time window TW of beacon slot BS, and the like. It will be.

<Configuration of Wireless Communication Device>
Next, the master 10M and slave 10S software configurations will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram functionally illustrating the software configuration of the wireless communication device 10 according to the present embodiment.
In the present embodiment, the hardware and software configurations of the master 10M and the slave 10S are the same. Then, when each device establishes or belongs to the networks A and B, the device type of either the master 10M or the slave 10S is set. Thereby, the wireless communication device 10 appropriately operates or functions as the master 10M or the slave 10S in the networks A and B by activating or deactivating a part of the functions according to the device type. become.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the wireless communication apparatus 10 includes a network detection unit 11, a type setting unit 12, a timing generation unit 13, a beacon transmission unit 14, a beacon reception unit 15, a connection management unit 16, and a beacon. It comprises the determination part 17, the timing adjustment part 18, the beacon relay part 19, and the memory | storage part 20.

  When the network detection unit 11 is not set as the master 10M or the slave 10S, the network detection unit 11 searches the networks A and B and determines whether the networks A and B to which the self should belong can be detected. Based on the detection of the network detection unit 11, the type setting unit 12 determines whether the own device is the master 10M or the slave 10S, and sets its own device type. The timing generation unit 13 generates its own communication timing CT (described later) based on the communication management information of the beacon signal 30.

  The beacon transmitting unit 14 transmits the beacon signal 30 in accordance with the communication frame CF. The beacon receiving unit 15 receives all of the transmitted beacon signals 30 regardless of which of the networks A and B the master 10M transmits. That is, the beacon reception unit 15 transmits the beacon signals 30 of the other networks A and B at the time of non-transmission of the wireless communication device 10 such as between the communication frames CF of its own networks A and B or unused slots ST in the communication frame CF It is possible to receive (intercept). Further, in the beacon reception unit 15, interception of the beacon signal 30 of the other networks A and B when the transmission of the wireless communication device 10 in their own networks A and B and the beacon slot BS of the other networks A and B overlap. Is difficult, but it is possible that the beacon signal 30 of another network A or B can be intercepted by any communication frame CF after the next communication frame CF due to the synchronization deviation of the communication frame CF between the networks A and B. Become.

  When the connection management unit 16 is set as the slave 10S, the connection management unit 16 establishes a connection relationship with the master 10M as the slave 10S managed by the master 10M based on the reception of the beacon reception unit 15. On the other hand, when the connection management unit 16 is set as the master 10M, the connection management unit 16 establishes a connection relationship with the slave 10S as the master 10M that manages the entire network A or network B.

  When the beacon determination unit 17 itself is set as the slave 10S, the received beacon signal 30 is also transmitted by the master 10M of either the network A, B or the other network A, B to which the own device belongs. Determine the On the other hand, when the beacon determination unit 17 is set as the master 10M, the beacon determination unit 17 determines only whether the received beacon signal 30 is transmitted by the masters 10M of the other networks A and B. .

When the self is set as the master 10M, the timing adjustment unit 18 performs its own communication timing CT including the transmission timing of the beacon transmission unit 14 based on the communication management information of the beacon signal 30 of the other networks A and B. , And time shift adjustment so as to be different from the communication timings CT of the other networks A and B.
The timing adjustment unit 18 is inactive and does not operate when the self is not set to the master 10M, that is, when the self is set to the slave 10S.

Beacon relay unit 19, when the self is set to slave 10S, the second other network A, the beacon slot BS of B, ..., a time window _TW 2 of the second N, ..., one of the TW _N At timing, it relays and transmits beacon signal 30 of own network A and B.
When the beacon relay unit 19 is not set as the slave 10S, that is, when the beacon relay unit 19 is set as the master 10M, the beacon relay unit 19 becomes inactive and does not operate. In addition, the beacon relay unit 19 may not directly transmit the beacon signal 30 by itself, and in this case, instructs the beacon transmission unit 14 to transmit the beacon signal 30.

  When the storage unit 20 is set as the slave 10S, the storage unit 20 stores the beacon signal 30 received by the beacon reception unit 15. On the other hand, when the wireless communication device 10 is set as the master 10M, the wireless communication device 10 generates the beacon signal 30 by itself or performs beacon signal 30 through an external device in order to perform network management and its setting update. Is set. Therefore, the storage unit 20 of the master 10M stores the beacon signal 30 in advance to prepare for transmission of the beacon signal 30.

The storage unit 20 also stores device type information indicating whether the device is set as the master 10M or the slave 10S or not set. The storage unit 20 also stores a shift setting value (constant value) indicating how much shift ΔT should be adjusted when the timing adjustment unit 18 performs time adjustment, and the shift ΔT.
The shift setting value is a value set in advance from the outside.

<Master or slave judgment processing flow>
Next, with reference to FIG. 6, an operation flow will be described in which the wireless communication device 10 according to the present embodiment sets itself as the master 10M or the slave 10S. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a process of determining whether the wireless communication device 10 according to the present embodiment is the master 10M or the slave 10S.

  As shown in FIG. 6, in step S10, the device body extracts the device type information of the storage unit 20. In step S11, the device body first determines whether the device type of the master 10M or the slave 10S is not set based on the extraction result. If the determination result is "YES", the process proceeds to step S12. On the other hand, if the determination result is "NO", the process proceeds to step S15.

  In step S12, the network detection unit 11 searches the networks A and B, for example, within a predetermined time, and determines whether or not the networks A and B to which the self should belong can be detected. If the detection result is "YES", the process proceeds to step S13, the type setting unit 12 determines that the self is the slave 10S, and sets the self type of the device to the slave 10S. Then, the type setting unit 12 updates the device type information based on the setting and causes the storage unit 20 to store the updated information. On the other hand, if the detection result is "NO", that is, if the presence of the networks A and B can not be detected within the predetermined time, the process proceeds to step S14 and the type setting unit 12 determines that the self is the master 10M and the self device The type is set to master 10A. Then, the type setting unit 12 updates the device type information based on the setting and causes the storage unit 20 to store the updated information.

  In step S15, based on the device type information of the storage unit 20, the device body determines whether or not the device type of the own device is the slave 10S. If the determination result is "YES", the process proceeds directly to step S17. On the other hand, if the determination result is "NO", the process proceeds to step S16.

  In step S16, based on the device type information of the storage unit 20, the device body determines whether or not the device type of the own device is the master 10M. If the determination result is "YES", the process proceeds directly to step S17. On the other hand, if the determination result is "NO", the process returns to step S12.

  In step S17, the device type of the wireless communication device 10 is determined, and based on the determination result, the wireless communication device 10 performs wireless communication as the master 10M or the slave 10S.

That is, when the self is set as the master 10M, the wireless communication device 10 itself generates the communication frame CF and the communication timing CT as the master 10M. Then, the wireless communication device 10 transmits a beacon signal 30 as a master 10M in the first time window TW ₁ of the beacon slot BS, performs appropriate wireless communication based on the communication frame CF.

  On the other hand, when the self is set as the slave 10S, the wireless communication device 10 performs wireless communication as the slave 10S under the management of the master 10M. However, it is determined that the wireless communication device 10 has received both the beacon signal 30 of itself and the other networks A and B based on the determination of the beacon determination unit 17 as described later. Relays and transmits the beacon signal 30 of its own network A, B (in FIG. 1, the masters 10 Sa, 10 Sb will perform this relay transmission).

<Operation flow of master>
Next, with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, an operation flow of the master 10M during wireless communication and a situation where the timing adjustment unit 18 of the master 10M performs time adjustment will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the master 10M. FIG. 8 is a time shift diagram for explaining a situation in which the timing adjustment unit 18 adjusts the communication timing CT of the wireless communication device 10 of its own.

As shown in FIG. 7, in step S20, the timing generation unit 13 of the master 10M generates a communication timing CT of the wireless communication device 10 of its own. In step S21, the beacon transmitter 14, transmission timing of the beacon signal 30 at the communication timing CT, i.e. waits until time window TW ₁ of the beacon slot BS. In step S22, the device body generates a beacon signal 30, and the storage unit 20 stores the generated beacon signal 30. In step S23, the beacon transmitting unit 14 transmits a beacon signal 30 of the storage unit 20 in the time window TW ₁ of the beacon slot BS.

  In step 24, the beacon reception unit 15 receives the transmitted beacon signal 30 regardless of which of the networks A and B the master 10M has transmitted. Then, the beacon determination unit 17 determines whether or not the beacon signal 30 received by the beacon reception unit 15 has been transmitted by the masters 10M of the other networks A and B. If the determination result is "YES", the process proceeds to step S25. On the other hand, if the determination result is "NO", the process proceeds to step S26.

  In step S25, based on the communication management information of the beacon signal 30 of the other networks A and B, the timing adjustment unit 18 transmits its own communication timing CT including the transmission timing of its own beacon transmission unit 14 to the other network A, It adjusts by time shifting to be different from the communication timing CT of B.

  For example, when the self is the master 10Ma of the network A (see FIG. 2), as shown in FIG. 8, the timing adjustment unit 18 determines the communication timing CTa of its own network A from the communication management information of its own , And communication timings CTb of other networks B are extracted, and the existence of the overlapping portion is grasped. Then, the timing adjustment unit 18 reads the shift setting value of the storage unit 20, compares it with the communication timing CTa based on the beacon transmission interval of the previous communication frame CF, and shifts it by ΔT corresponding to the shift setting value. The communication timing CTa is delayed for a predetermined time. By this time delay, collision (duplication) of the communication timings CTa and CTb is avoided.

  Again, returning to FIG. 7, the description will be continued. As shown in FIG. 7, in step S26, the device body determines whether or not the current time is a slot ST assigned to the device of its own in its communication frame CF. If the determination result is "YES", the process proceeds to step S27. On the other hand, if the determination result is "NO", the process proceeds to step S28.

  In step S27, the device body transmits a data signal in the slot ST assigned to itself. In step S28, the device body receives the data signal.

In step S29, the device body determines whether or not the final slot S _{L has} been reached in its own communication frame CF. If the determination result is "YES", the process returns to step S20. On the other hand, if the determination result is "NO", the process returns to step S26. That is, the series of steps S26 to S28 are repeated until the communication frame CF or the communication timing CT of its own is completed in step S29.

  By executing the series of steps from step S20 to step S29 in this manner, the master 10M performs wireless communication with the slave 10S and, as will be described later, from the masters 10M of the other networks A and B. The transmitted beacon signal 30 is received via the slaves 10S of the other networks A and B. Thereby, the master 10M grasps the communication timings CT of the other networks A and B, and adjusts the time so that the communication timing CT does not collide with itself.

<Operation flow of slave>
Next, with reference to FIG. 9, an operation flow at the time of wireless communication of the slave 10S will be described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the slave 10S.

  As shown in FIG. 9, in step S30, the beacon reception unit 15 of the slave 10S waits until receiving the beacon signal 30. In step S31, the beacon determination unit 17 determines whether the beacon signal 30 received by the beacon reception unit 15 is transmitted by the master 10M of the network A, B or the other networks A, B to which it belongs. judge. If the determination result is "YES", the process proceeds to step S32. On the other hand, if the determination result is "NO", the process proceeds to step S39.

  In step S32, the timing generation unit 13 generates its own communication timing CT based on the communication management information of the beacon signal 30.

  In step S33, based on the determination of the beacon determination unit 17, the apparatus body determines whether or not the beacon reception unit 15 has received both the beacon signal 30 of itself and the other networks A and B. If the determination result is "YES", the process proceeds to step S33. On the other hand, if the determination result is "NO", the process proceeds to step S35.

In step S34, the beacon relay unit 19, second other network A, the beacon slot BS of B, ..., a time window _TW 2 of the second N, ..., at any timing TW _N, own network A, The beacon signal 30 of B is relayed and transmitted.

  In step S35, the device body determines whether or not the current time is a slot ST allocated to the device of its own in its communication frame CF. If the determination result is "YES", the process proceeds to step S36. On the other hand, if the determination result is "NO", the process proceeds to step S37.

  In step S36, the device body transmits a data signal in the slot ST assigned to itself. In step S37, the device body receives the data signal.

In step S38, the device body determines whether or not the final slot S _{L has} been reached in its own communication frame CF. If the determination result is "YES", the process returns to step S30. On the other hand, if the determination result is "NO", the process returns to step S35.

  In step S39, the device main body counts and holds the beacon signals 30 of the other networks A and B as received (sets a flag for beacon relay transmission). That is, according to steps S31 and S39, the apparatus main body counts the presence or absence of reception of both the own and other beacon signals 30 of the networks A and B. Step S33 is performed based on this count.

  By executing the series of steps from step S30 to step S38 in this manner, the slave 10S communicates with the master 10M while communicating with the other networks A and B toward the other networks A and B. The beacon signal 30 of B is relayed and transmitted. As a result, the slave 10S causes the masters 10M of the other networks A and B to grasp the communication timing CT of their own networks A and B, and adjust the time so that the other communication timing CT does not collide with itself.

<Time adjustment of communication timing in multiple networks>
Next, with reference to FIGS. 10 to 13, a situation will be described in which the communication timing CT is mutually time-adjusted among the plurality of networks A, B, C, D by the master 10M and the slave 10S of the first embodiment. . FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram for explaining a situation in which four networks A, B, C, and D exist. FIG. 11 is a time shift diagram for explaining the situation in which the communication timings CT are mutually adjusted in the plurality of networks A, B, C, D. FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram for explaining another situation in which four networks A, B, C and D exist. FIG. 13 is a time shift diagram for explaining the situation in which the communication timings CT are mutually adjusted in a plurality of networks A, B, C, D. In FIGS. 10 to 13, two examples are described.

  First, a first example will be described. As shown in FIG. 10, in this example, four networks A, B, C, and D exist. And in this example, although the network A overlaps partially with the network B in the communication area, it does not overlap with the networks C and D. The network B partially overlaps with the networks A and C in the communication area but does not overlap with the network D. The network C partially overlaps with the networks B and D in the communication area but does not overlap with the network A. The network D partially overlaps with the network C in its communication area but does not overlap with the networks A and B. That is, in this example, the networks A, B, C, and D are not arranged to be simultaneously superimposed on all the other networks A, B, C, and D.

  Thus, in the case where four networks A, B, C, D are arranged, as described above, the masters 10M of the respective networks A, B, C, D are of the other networks A, B, C, D. The beacon signal 30 transmitted from the master 10M is received via the slaves 10S of the other networks A, B, C, D. Accordingly, the master 10M grasps the communication timings CT of the other networks A, B, C, D, and adjusts the time so that the communication timings CT do not collide with itself. Also, the slaves 10S of each of the networks A, B, C, D relay and transmit the beacon signal 30 of their own networks A, B, C, D to the other networks A, B, C, D. . Thereby, the slave 10S causes the master 10M of the other networks A, B, C, D to grasp the communication timing CT of its own network A, B, C, D, and the self and the other communication timing CT collide. Do not time adjust.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the cycle (time axis in FIG. 11) is divided into two by repeating the series of operations of the master 10M and the slave 10S. Then, both the communication timing CTa of the network A and the communication timing CTc of the network C are arranged in the first period (the first half period, the left period in the drawing). On the other hand, both the communication timing CTb of the network B and the communication timing CTd of the network D are arranged in the second period (second half period, left period in the drawing).

  In this example, the communication timing CTa of the network A and the communication timing CTc of the network C overlap, but since the communication areas of the networks A and C do not overlap each other, the communication timing CT collides between the networks A and C There will be no communication problems. The same applies to the networks B and D.

  Next, a second example will be described. As shown in FIG. 12, in this example, the network A overlaps with both the networks B and C and the communication area thereof but does not overlap with the network D. The network B partially overlaps any of the networks A, C, and D in the communication area. Similarly, the network C partially overlaps any of the networks A, B, and D in the communication area. The network D partially overlaps both the networks B and C and their communication areas, but not the network A. That is, in this example, only the networks A and D are not arranged so that their communication areas overlap each other.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 13, the cycle is divided into three by a series of operations of the master and the slave. Both the communication timing CTa of the network A and the communication timing CTd of the network D are arranged in the first period (the left period in the drawing). The communication timing CTb of the network B is arranged in the second period (central period in the drawing). The communication timing CTc of the network C is arranged in the third period (the right period in the drawing).

  In this example, although the communication timing CTa of the network A and the communication timing CTd of the network D overlap, the communication areas of the networks A and D do not overlap each other, so that a communication problem occurs between the networks A and D. There is no.

<Advantages of Wireless Communication Device and Wireless Communication System>
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the beacon slot BS is provided at the head portion of the communication frame CF, and the beacon slots BS have the first, second,. , N is a natural number and indicates the order from the top) has time windows TW ₁ , TW ₂ ,..., TW _N , and the transmission timing of the beacon transmitter 14 is in the _first time window TW ₁ Assigned. Further, in the case where the self is set as the wireless communication device 10 of the master 10M, the beacon receiving unit 15 selects the second to Nth beacon slots BS of its own wireless communication networks A, B, C, D. The beacon signal 30 is received at any timing of the time windows TW ₂ ,..., TW _N , and the timing adjustment unit 18 is set as the wireless communication device 10 of the master 10M, and the beacon determination unit When it is determined that the beacon signal 30 of another wireless communication network A, B, C, D has been received based on the determination of S17, its own communication timings CT, CTa, CTb, CTc, CTd are adjusted. In addition, when the self is set as the wireless communication device 10 of the slave 10S, the beacon relay unit 19 is set as the wireless communication device 10 of the slave 10S managed by the wireless communication device 10 of the master 10M. And when it is determined that the beacon receiving unit 15 has received both the beacon signal 30 of itself and the other wireless communication networks A, B, C, D based on the determination of the beacon determining unit 17, wireless communication networks a, B, C, the second beacon slot BS of D, ..., time window _TW 2 of the second N, ..., at any timing TW _N, its wireless communication network a, B, C, The beacon signal 30 of D is relayed and transmitted.

  Therefore, the wireless communication device 10 of the master 10M receives the beacon signal 30 of the other wireless communication networks A, B, C, D in the beacon slot BS of the communication frame CF via the wireless communication device 10 of the slave 10S. Therefore, it is possible to time shift and adjust the communication timing CT of its own communication frame CF. Therefore, since the slots ST are shared among the plurality of wireless communication networks A, B, C, and D to establish communication synchronization, the slots ST can be equally and efficiently allocated, and as a result, communication of the communication frame CF The collision (duplication) of timing CT can be avoided. Thereby, a plurality of wireless communication networks A, B, C, D can coexist without shortening the slot ST of the communication frame CF.

Further, according to the present embodiment, when the self is set as the wireless communication device 10 of the slave 10S, the beacon determination unit 17 determines that the beacon signal 30 of the storage unit 20 is the wireless communication device 10 of its own master 10M. And further includes a timing generation unit 13 that generates its own communication timing CT based on the communication management information of the beacon signal 30 of the storage unit 20, and determines that the communication timing CT of the timing generation unit 13 based, second, ..., time window _TW 2 of the second N, ..., either in TW _N, for wireless communication with the wireless communication device 10 of the own master 10M, wireless communication device of the slave 10S 10 Can quickly establish a connection relationship with the wireless communication device 10 of the master 10M to perform efficient communication.

Second Embodiment
Further, with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15, a second embodiment of the wireless communication apparatus and the wireless communication system according to the present invention will be described.
The same or equivalent parts as or to those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same or like reference numerals as in the drawings, and the description thereof is omitted or simplified.

<Composition of beacon signal>
The configuration of the beacon signal 40 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 14 is a configuration diagram for explaining the configuration of the beacon signal 40 of the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 14, the beacon signal 40 includes beacon type information 41, transmitter ID information 42, beacon interval information 43, slot length information 44, and a plurality of first, second,. In addition to the allocation information 45, it is configured to further include overlapping time information 46.

  The overlap time information 46 is a parameter indicating the overlap time of the communication timing CT between itself and the other networks A and B.

<Operation of Timing Adjustment Unit>
Next, with reference to FIG. 15, the operation of the timing adjustment unit 18 of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 15 is a time shift diagram for explaining a situation in which the timing adjustment unit 18 adjusts the communication timing CT of its own wireless communication device 10 based on the overlap time information 46.

  For example, when the self is the master 10Ma of the network A (see FIG. 2), as shown in FIG. 15, the timing adjustment unit 18 temporally operates between the networks A and B based on the overlap time information 46 of the beacon signal 40. Time-shift and adjust its own communication timing CTa in order to avoid a collision.

That is, in the present embodiment, at the time adjustment of communication timing CT, unlike the first embodiment, the shift setting value (constant value) of the storage unit 20 is not used, and the overlap time information 46 is used instead. . Therefore, the communication timing CTa is not uniformly time-adjusted, but is time-specifically adjusted individually between itself and the other networks A and B. As a result, the shift ΔT of its own communication timing CT is more optimized than in the first embodiment (see FIG. 8).
The other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment.

<Advantages of Wireless Communication Device and Wireless Communication System>
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the beacon signal 40 further includes overlapping time information 46 on the overlapping time of the communication timings CTa and CTb between itself and other wireless communication networks A and B, and the timing adjustment unit 18 adjusts its own communication timing CTa based on the overlap time information 46 of the beacon signal 40. Therefore, it is possible to individually and specifically adjust the timing with respect to the overlapping state of the communication timings CTa and CTb between the plurality of wireless communication networks A and B. As a result, time adjustment of the communication timing CTa can be performed more efficiently and efficiently between the plurality of wireless communication networks A and B.

Third Embodiment
Further, with reference to FIG. 16 and FIG. 17, a third embodiment of the wireless communication apparatus and the wireless communication system according to the present invention will be described.
The same or equivalent parts as or to those of the first or second embodiment are indicated by the same or like reference numerals as in the drawings, and the description thereof will be omitted or simplified.

<Composition of beacon signal>
The configuration of the beacon signal of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 16 is a configuration diagram for explaining the configuration of the beacon signal of the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 16, the beacon signal 50 of this embodiment includes beacon type information 51, overlap time information 56, transmitter ID information 52, beacon interval information 53, slot length information 54, and a plurality of In addition to the first, second,..., N-th allocation information 55, network priority information 57 is further included.

  The network priority information 57 is a parameter indicating the priority corresponding to each of the networks A and B.

<Configuration of Wireless Communication Device>
Next, the configuration of the wireless communication device 60 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 17 is a functional block diagram functionally illustrating the software configuration of the wireless communication device of this embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 17, the wireless communication device 60 of this embodiment includes a network detection unit 61, a type setting unit 62, a timing generation unit 63, a beacon transmission unit 64, a beacon reception unit 65, and a connection management unit. In addition to 66, the beacon determination unit 67, the timing adjustment unit 68, the beacon relay unit 69, and the storage unit 70, a priority comparison unit 71 is further included.

  For example, when the wireless communication apparatus 60 itself belongs to the network A (see FIG. 12), the priority comparing section 71 determines that the beacon determination section 67 determines that the beacon signal 50 of the storage section 70 is the master 60Mb of another network B. When it is determined that the signal has been transmitted, the network priority information 57 of the beacon signal 50 is referred to, and the priorities of itself and other networks A and B are compared. When the priority comparison unit 71 determines that the other network B has a higher priority than itself, the priority comparison unit 71 determines whether the communication timing CTa and the other network B overlap.

  Then, in the present embodiment, the beacon relay unit 69 determines whether to relay and transmit the beacon signal 50 of its own network A based on the comparison of the priority comparison unit 71. Specifically, when it is determined that the priority of the other network B is lower than that of its own network A, the beacon relay unit 69 relays and transmits the beacon signal 50 of its own network A. Conversely, when it is determined that the priority of the other network B is high, the beacon relay unit 69 relays and does not transmit.

<Operation of Timing Adjustment Unit and Priority Comparison Unit>
Next, operations of the timing adjustment unit 68 and the priority comparison unit 71 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 18 is a flowchart for explaining the operations of the timing adjustment unit 68 and the priority comparison unit 71. FIG. 18 corresponds to step S25 in FIG. 7 as a subroutine.

  For example, when the wireless communication apparatus 60 itself belongs to the network A (see FIG. 1), as shown in FIG. 18, in step S40, the priority comparing unit 71 determines that the other networks B have higher priority than itself. It is determined whether the Then, when determining that the priority of the other network B is high, the priority comparing unit 71 determines whether or not the communication timing CTa of its own with respect to the other network B is duplicated. If the determination result is "YES", the process proceeds to step S41, and if "NO", the subroutine is ended and the process returns to the main routine (RETURN).

In step S41, based on the communication management information of the beacon signal 50 of another network B, the timing adjustment unit 68 sends its own communication timing CTa including the beacon transmission timing of its own beacon transmission unit 64 to the other network B. Delay for a predetermined time. Thereby, the timing adjustment unit 68 adjusts its communication timing CTa by time shifting so as to be different from the communication timing CTb of the other network B.
The other configuration and operation flow are similar to those of the first or second embodiment.

<Time adjustment of communication timing in multiple networks>
Referring to FIG. 19, the communication timings CTa, CTb, CTc and CTd are time-adjusted among the plurality of networks A, B, C and D by the master 60M and the slave 60S of the third embodiment. Will be explained. FIG. 19 is a time shift diagram for explaining how communication timings CTa, CTb, CTc and CTd are adjusted to one another in the plurality of networks A, B, C and D in this embodiment. In FIG. 19, one example is described.
In this example, as in FIG. 12, four networks A, B, C, and D exist, and only the networks A and D are not arranged so that their communication areas overlap each other. Other than that, they are arranged to overlap each other.

  In this example, network A has the highest priority, network B is the next highest, network C continues, and network D has the lowest priority (ie, priority: A> B> C> D). ).

  In such a priority situation, as shown in FIG. 19, in the first communication frame CF, in the priority comparison unit 71 of each of the networks A, B, C, D, the other networks A, B, The overlapping situation of the communication timings CTa, CTb, CTc, CTd with C, D is grasped.

  In the second communication frame CF, except for the network A with the highest priority, the timing adjusters 68 of each of the networks B, C, D have their communication timings CTb, CTc, CTd in the higher priority networks. The respective communication timings are delayed for a predetermined time.

  Then, in the third communication frame CF, except for the network B having the next highest priority to the network A, the timing adjustment units 68 of each of the networks C and D have their own communication timings CTc and CTd higher in priority. The respective network communication timings are delayed for a predetermined time.

  In the fourth communication frame CF, the timing adjustment unit 68 of the network D delays its own communication timing CTd by a predetermined time with respect to the communication timing CTc of the network C higher in priority. Thereby, communication synchronization of each network A, B, C, D is completed.

  Thus, in the present example, based on the network priority information 57 assigned to the networks A, B, C, D, the master 60M of the networks B, C, D with lower priority in the next communication frame CF The communication timings CTb, CTc, and CTd including the beacon transmission timing are respectively adjusted by delaying for a predetermined time.

  The slave 60S of each of the networks A, B, C and D follows the network A, B, C and D of its own based on the reception status of the beacon signal 50 of itself and the other networks A, B, C and D. The communication timings CTa, CTb, CTc, and CTd of the communication frame CF can be predicted. Therefore, when the slave 60S receives the beacon signal 50 of another network A, B, C, D, it receives the beacon signal 50 in the current communication frame CF of its own network A, B, C, D. Even if not, the communication timings CTa, CTb, CTc, and CTd overlap are predicted, and the beacon signal 50 of its own network A, B, C, D received in the previous communication frame CF is transmitted to the other networks A, B, It is also possible to notify the C, D masters 60M.

<Advantages of Wireless Communication Device and Wireless Communication System>
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the beacon signal 50 further includes the network priority information (priority information) 57 related to the priority corresponding to each of the wireless communication networks A and B. When 67 determines that the beacon signal 50 of the storage unit 70 originates from the wireless communication device 10 of another master 10Mb, it refers to the network priority information 57 of the beacon signal 50, and determines itself and the other wireless communication network A. , And B. The beacon relay unit 69 relays the beacon signal 50 of its own wireless communication network A and B based on the comparison of the priority comparison unit 71. It is determined whether to send or not. Therefore, communication synchronization can be performed based on the wireless communication networks A and B having higher priorities among the plurality of wireless communication networks A and B. Thereby, the communication quality (the communication success rate, the transmission delay, etc.) of the entire wireless communication networks A and B is maintained without changing the communication timing CT of the wireless communication networks A and B with high priority as much as possible. The time adjustment of the communication timing CT can be achieved between the plurality of wireless communication networks A and B.

Fourth Embodiment
Further, with reference to FIG. 20, a fourth embodiment of the wireless communication apparatus and the wireless communication system according to the present invention will be described.
The same or equivalent parts as or to those of the first to third embodiments are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals in the drawings and the description thereof is omitted or simplified.

<Operation of Timing Adjustment Unit and Priority Comparison Unit>
The operations of the timing adjustment unit 68 and the priority comparison unit 71 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 20 is a flowchart for explaining the operations of the timing adjustment unit 68 and the priority comparison unit 71.
20 corresponds to step S25 in FIG. 7 as a subroutine, as in FIG. Further, in the present embodiment, the timing adjustment unit 68 is configured to be able to adjust the time by delaying or advancing the communication timing CT by a predetermined time.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 20, when the wireless communication apparatus 60 itself belongs to the network A and there are a plurality (four) of networks A, B, C, D (see FIG. 10 or 12). In step S50, the priority comparing unit 71 determines whether the other networks B, C, and D have higher priorities than themselves. When the priority comparing unit 71 determines that the priority of the other networks B, C, and D is high, whether or not its own communication timing CTa overlaps with the other networks B, C, and D. judge. If the determination result is "YES", the process proceeds to step S51, and if "NO", the subroutine is ended and the process returns to the main routine (RETURN).

  In step S51, the apparatus body stores and holds the adjustment type by the timing adjustment unit 68 in the previous communication frame CF in the storage unit 70, and by referring to the storage unit 70, the previous adjustment type is "absent". , "Delayed" or "advanced" is determined. If the determination result is "absent", the process proceeds to step S54. If it is "delay", it will progress to step S52. If "forwarding", the process proceeds to step S53.

  In step S52, the apparatus main body stores the number of duplications with the communication timings CTb, CTc, and CTd of the other networks B, C, D in the previous communication frame CF in the storage unit 70, and refers to the storage unit 70. By doing this, it is determined whether the number of duplicates with the other networks B, C, D in the previous and current communication frames CF has decreased. If the determination result is "YES", the process proceeds to step S54, and if "NO", the process proceeds to step S55.

  Similarly, in step S53, the apparatus main body refers to the storage unit 70 to determine the number of overlapping communication timings CTb, CTc, CTd of the other networks B, C, D in the previous and current communication frames CF. It is determined whether it is decreasing. If the determination result is "YES", the process proceeds to step S55, and if "NO", the process proceeds to step S54.

  In step S54, based on the communication management information of the beacon signal 50 of the other networks B, C, D, the timing adjustment unit 68 sets its own communication timing CTa including the beacon transmission timing of its own beacon transmission unit 64 to the other. The network B, C, D are adjusted in time by delaying for a predetermined time. On the other hand, in step S55, the timing adjustment section 68 adjusts its own communication timing CTa including the beacon transmission timing of its own beacon transmission section 64 by a predetermined time with respect to the other networks B, C, D to adjust time. Do.

<Time adjustment of communication timing in multiple networks>
Next, referring to FIGS. 21 and 22, communication timings CTa, CTb, CTc, and CTd are mutually time-adjusted among the plurality of networks A, B, C, and D by the master 60M and the slave 60S of the fourth embodiment. Explain how it is done. FIG. 21 is a time shift diagram for explaining how communication timings CTa, CTb, CTc, and CTd are adjusted to each other in the plurality of networks A, B, C, and D in the present embodiment. FIG. 22 is a time shift diagram for explaining how communication timings CTa, CTb, CTc and CTd are adjusted to one another in another plurality of networks A, B, C and D in this embodiment. 21 and 22 illustrate two examples.

  First, a first example will be described. In this example, as in FIG. 10, four networks A, B, C, D exist, and each of the networks A, B, C, D corresponds to all the other networks A, B, C, D. It is not an arrangement to overlap at the same time. Also in this example, network A has the highest priority, network B is the next highest, network C continues, and network D has the lowest priority (ie, priority: A> B> C>). D).

  In such a priority situation, as shown in FIG. 21, in the first communication frame CF, in the priority comparison unit 71 of each of the networks A, B, C, D, the other networks A, B, The overlapping situation of the communication timings CTa, CTb, CTc, CTd with C, D is grasped. That is, the number of duplicates is 2 in network B, the number of duplicates is 2 in network C, and the number of duplicates is 1 in network D.

  In the second communication frame CF, timings of the network B having a lower priority to the network A, the network C having a lower priority to the network B, and the network D having a lower priority to the network C, respectively. The adjustment unit 68 delays its communication timings CTb, CTc, and CTd for a predetermined time.

  Here, the number of duplications does not decrease in the networks C and D due to the communication timing adjustment due to the delay in the second communication frame CF. Therefore, in the third communication frame CF, the timing adjustment unit 68 of each of the network C having a lower priority than the network B and the network D having a lower priority than the network C has its own communication timing CTc, Move CTd forward for a predetermined time.

  Further, at this time, the number of duplications has not decreased in the network D due to the adjustment of the communication timing by the advance in the third communication frame CF. Therefore, in the fourth communication frame CF, since the priority of the network C is higher than that of the network D, the timing adjustment unit 68 of the network D delays its communication timing CTd with respect to the communication timing CTc of the network C for a predetermined time. . Thereby, communication synchronization of each network A, B, C, D is completed.

Thus, in the present example, based on the network priority information 57 assigned to the networks A, B, C, D, the master 60M of the networks B, C, D with lower priority in the next communication frame CF The communication timings CTb, CTc, and CTd including the beacon transmission timing are time-adjusted by respectively delaying or advancing them for a predetermined time. That is, when the number of duplicates does not decrease in the communication frame CF after the communication timing adjustment by each timing adjustment unit 68, the communication timing CT including the beacon transmission timing is delayed or advanced to switch time adjustment I do.
In this example, communication timings CT can be overlapped between the network A and the network C, and between the network B and the network D, in which the communication areas do not directly interfere with each other.

  Next, a second example will be described. In this example, as in FIG. 12, there are four networks A, B, C, D, and only networks A, D are not arranged so that their communication areas overlap each other. Other than that, they are arranged to overlap each other. Also in this example, network A has the highest priority, network B is the next highest, network C continues, and network D has the lowest priority (ie, priority: A> B> C>). D).

  In such a priority situation, as shown in FIG. 22, in the first communication frame CF, in the priority comparison unit 71 of each of the networks A, B, C, D, the other networks A, B, The overlapping situation of the communication timings CTa, CTb, CTc, CTd with C, D is grasped. That is, in the network B, the number of duplications is 3, in the network C, the number of duplications is 3, and in the network D, the number of duplications is 2.

  In the second communication frame CF, except for the network A with the highest priority, the networks B, C, D, and the timing adjusters 68 of each have their own communication timings CTb, CTc, and CTd at higher priority. The communication timing of the network is delayed by a predetermined time.

Here, the number of duplications in the network D is not reduced by the communication timing adjustment due to the delay in the second communication frame CF. Therefore, in the third communication frame CF, since the priority of the networks B and C is higher than that of the network D, the timing adjustment unit 68 of the network D communicates its communication timing CTd to the communication timing CTb of the networks B and C. The CTc is advanced for a predetermined time. At the same time, since the priority of the network B is higher than that of the network C, the timing adjustment unit 68 of the network C delays its own communication timing CTc with respect to the communication timing CTb of the network B for a predetermined time. Thus, communication synchronization of each of the networks A, B and C is completed.
In this example, communication timings CT can be duplicated between the network A and the network D in which the communication areas do not directly interfere with each other.

  Although the description of the specific embodiments is completed above, the aspects of the present invention are not limited to these embodiments, and appropriate modifications, improvements, etc. are possible.

Here, the features of the embodiments of the wireless communication device and the wireless communication system according to the present invention described above will be briefly summarized and listed in the following [1] to [10], respectively.
[1]
A storage unit (20, 70) for storing a beacon signal (30, 40, 50) having communication management information including information on a communication frame (CF) set in advance;
As a wireless communication device (10, 60) of a master (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb) constructing a wireless communication network (A, B, C, D), the wireless communication network (A, B, C, D) A beacon transmitting unit (14, 64) for transmitting the beacon signal (30, 40, 50) according to the communication frame (CF);
A beacon receiver (15, 65) for receiving the beacon signal (30, 40, 50);
The beacon signal (30, 40, 50) received by the beacon receiving unit (15, 65) is the master (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb) of the other wireless communication network (A, B, C, D). A beacon determination unit (17, 67) that determines whether the wireless communication device (10, 60) originates;
Based on the communication management information of the beacon signal (30, 40, 50) of the other wireless communication network (A, B, C, D), the self of including the transmission timing of the beacon transmission unit (14, 64) The communication timing (CT, CTa, CTb, CTc, CTd) is different from the communication timing (CT, CTa, CTb, CTc, CTd) of the other wireless communication networks (A, B, C, D). A timing adjustment unit (18, 68) for shifting and adjusting;
A wireless communication device (10, 60) comprising:
[2]
A beacon slot (BS) is provided at the beginning of the communication frame (CF),
The beacon slot (BS) has a first, second,..., Nth (1, 2,..., N is a natural number and indicates an order from the top) time window (TW ₁ , TW ₂ ,. Have TW _N ),
The transmission timing of the beacon transmission unit (14, 64) is assigned to the first time window (TW ₁ ),
The beacon receiving unit (15, 65) may receive the second,..., Nth time windows (TW ₂ ,...) Of the beacon slots (BS) of the wireless communication network (A, B, C, D) of its own. , TW _N ), the beacon signal (30, 40, 50) is received,
The timing adjustment unit (18, 68) is set itself as a wireless communication device (10, 60) of the master (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb), and the determination of the beacon determination unit (17, 67) When it is determined that the beacon signal (30, 40, 50) of the other wireless communication network (A, B, C, D) has been received, based on its own communication timing (CT, CTa, CTb, The radio communication device (10, 60) according to [1], which adjusts CTc and CTd).
[3]
The beacon signal (40, 50) is an overlapping time related to the overlapping time of the communication timing (CT, CTa, CTb, CTc, CTd) between itself and the other wireless communication networks (A, B, C, D) Further have information (46, 56),
The timing adjustment unit (18, 68) adjusts its own communication timing (CT, CTa, CTb, CTc, CTd) based on the overlapping time information (46, 56) of the beacon signal (40, 50). The wireless communication device (10, 60) according to [2], characterized in that
[4]
The beacon signal (50) further includes priority information (network priority information, 57) on priorities corresponding to the wireless communication networks (A, B, C, D), respectively [1] The wireless communication device (60) according to any one of [3].
[5]
Wireless communication devices (10, 60) of masters (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb) constructing wireless communication networks (A, B, C, D) and wireless communication devices (10, 10M, 10Ma, 10Mb) of the masters (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb) And a wireless communication device (10, 60) of a slave (10S, 10Sa, 10Sb) managed by the V. 60), and a wireless communication system (1, 1a, 1b),
A wireless communication system (1), wherein the wireless communication device (10, 60) of the master (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb) is the wireless communication device (10, 60) according to any one of [1] to [3] , 1a, 1b).
[6]
It is transmitted by the wireless communication device (10, 60) of the master (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb) constructing the wireless communication network (A, B, C, D) according to the communication frame (CF) set in advance, and A beacon receiver (15, 65) for receiving a beacon signal (30, 40, 50) having communication management information including information on a communication frame (CF);
A storage unit (20, 70) for storing the beacon signal (30, 40, 50) received by the beacon reception unit (15, 65);
The beacon signal (30, 40, 50) of the storage unit (20, 70) is the wireless communication network (A, B, C, D) to which the beacon signal belongs, or the other wireless communication network (A, B, A beacon determination unit (17, 67) that determines whether the wireless communication device (10, 60) of the master (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb) of C, D) originates;
And a beacon relay unit (19, 69) for relaying and transmitting the beacon signal (30, 40, 50) of the storage unit (20, 70);
A beacon slot (BS) is provided in the head portion (CF) of the communication frame,
The beacon slot (BS) has a first, second,..., Nth (1, 2,..., N is a natural number and indicates an order from the top) time window (TW ₁ , TW ₂ ,. Have TW _N ),
The transmission timings at which the wireless communication devices (10, 60) of the masters (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb) transmit the beacon signals (30, 40, 50) are assigned to the first time window (TW ₁ ) ,
The beacon relay unit (19, 69) is a wireless communication device (10) of the slave (10S, 10Sa, 10Sb) which is managed by the wireless communication device (10, 60) of the master (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb). , 60), and based on the determination of the beacon determination unit (17, 67), the beacon signal (30, 40, 50) of itself and the other wireless communication networks (A, B, C, D). And the second of the beacon slots (BS) of the other wireless communication network (A, B, C, D) when it is determined that both of the beacon reception units (15, 65) are received. ,..., N timing window (TW ₂ ,..., TW _N ), the beacon signal (A, B, C, D) of its own radio communication network (A, B, C, D) A wireless communication device (10, 60) characterized by transmitting 30, 30, 50) in relay.
[7]
The beacon determination unit (17, 67) is a wireless communication device (10, 60) in which the beacon signal (30, 40, 50) of the storage unit (20, 70) is its own master (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb). Communication timing (CT, CTa, CTb, CTc, CTd) based on the communication management information of the beacon signal (30, 40, 50) of the storage unit (20, 70). Further includes a timing generation unit (13, 63) for generating
One of the second,..., N time windows (TW ₂ ,..., TW _N ) based on the communication timings (CT, CTa, CTb, CTc, CTd) of the timing generation unit (13, 63) The wireless communication device (10, 60) according to [6], wherein wireless communication is performed with the wireless communication device (10, 60) of the master (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb) of its own.
[8]
The beacon signal (40, 50) is duplication time information on duplication time of communication timing (CT, CTa, CTb, CTc, CTd) between itself and the other wireless communication networks (A, B, C, D) The wireless communication apparatus (10, 60) according to [6] or [7], further comprising (46, 56).
[9]
The beacon signal (50) further includes priority information (network priority information, 57) on priorities corresponding to the wireless communication networks (A, B, C, D),
When the beacon determination unit (67) determines that the beacon signal (50) of the storage unit (70) is transmitted by the wireless communication device (60) of the other master (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb) Priority comparison comparing the priorities of itself and other wireless communication networks (A, B, C, D) with reference to the priority information (network priority information, 57) of the beacon signal (50) It further has a part (71),
The beacon relay unit (69) relays and transmits the beacon signal (50) of the wireless communication network (A, B, C, D) based on the comparison of the priority comparison unit (71). The wireless communication apparatus (60) according to any one of [6] to [8], which determines whether the wireless communication apparatus is or not.
[10]
Wireless communication devices (10, 60) of masters (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb) constructing wireless communication networks (A, B, C, D) and wireless communication devices (10, 10M, 10Ma, 10Mb) of the masters (10M, 10Ma, 10Mb) And a wireless communication device (10, 60) of a slave (10S, 10Sa, 10Sb) managed by the V. 60), and a wireless communication system (1, 1a, 1b),
A wireless communication system (1), wherein the wireless communication device (10, 60) of the slave (10S, 10Sa, 10Sb) is the wireless communication device (10, 60) according to any one of [6] to [9]. , 1a, 1b).

1 Wireless Communication System 1a Wireless Communication System of Network A 1b Wireless Communication System of Network B 10 Wireless Communication Device 10M Master Wireless Communication Device 10 Ma Master A Wireless Communication Device 10 Mb Network B Master Wireless Communication Device 10 S Slave Wireless Communication device 10Sa Wireless communication device of slave of network A 10Sb Wireless communication device of slave of network B 11 Network detection unit 12 Type setting unit 13 Timing generation unit 14 Beacon transmission unit 15 Beacon reception unit 16 Connection management unit 17 Beacon determination unit 18 Timing Adjustment unit 19 Beacon relay unit 20 Storage unit 30 Beacon signal 31 Beacon type information 32 Transmitter ID information 33 Beacon interval information 34 Slot length information 35 Allocation information 40 Beacon No. 41 Beacon type information 42 Transmitting apparatus ID information 43 Beacon interval information 44 Slot length information 45 Allocation information 46 Overlap time information 50 Beacon signal 51 Beacon type information 52 Transmitting apparatus ID information 53 Beacon interval information 54 Slot length information 55 Allocation information 56 Overlap Time information 57 Network priority information (priority information)
60 wireless communication device 60 M master wireless communication device 60 Mb network B master wireless communication device 60 S slave wireless communication device 61 network detection unit 62 type setting unit 63 timing generation unit 64 beacon transmission unit 65 beacon reception unit 66 connection management unit 67 Beacon determination unit 68 Timing adjustment unit 69 Beacon relay unit 70 Storage unit 71 Priority comparison unit CF communication frame ST ₁ , ST ₂ , ..., ST _L slot BS Beacon slot TW ₁ , TW ₂ , ..., TW _N time window CS communication Slot IS allocation request slot CT communication timing communication timing of CTa network A communication timing of CTb network B communication timing of CTc network C communication timing of CTd network D ΔT shift

Claims (5)

A storage unit for storing a beacon signal having communication management information including information on a communication frame set in advance;
As a master wireless communication device that constructs a wireless communication network, a beacon transmission unit that transmits the beacon signal related to the wireless communication network of its own according to the communication frame;
A beacon receiver for receiving the beacon signal;
A beacon determination unit that determines whether the beacon signal received by the beacon reception unit has been transmitted by the master wireless communication device of another wireless communication network;
Based on the communication management information of the beacon signal of the other wireless communication network, its own communication timing including the transmission timing of the beacon transmission unit is time shifted so as to be different from the communication timing of the other wireless communication network Timing adjustment unit to adjust
A wireless communication device comprising: A beacon slot is provided at the beginning of the communication frame,
The beacon slot has a time window of first, second,..., Nth (1, 2,..., N is a natural number and indicates the order from the beginning),
The transmission timing of the beacon transmission unit is assigned to the first time window,
The beacon receiving unit receives the beacon signal at any timing of the second to the Nth time windows of the beacon slot of the wireless communication network of its own,
When it is determined that the timing adjustment unit itself is set as the wireless communication device of the master and the beacon signal of another wireless communication network is received based on the determination of the beacon determination unit, The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication timing of itself is adjusted. The beacon signal further includes overlap time information on overlap times of the communication timing between itself and the other wireless communication network,
The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the timing adjustment unit adjusts the communication timing of itself based on the overlapping time information of the beacon signal. The wireless communication apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the beacon signal further includes priority information on a priority corresponding to each of the wireless communication networks. A wireless communication system, comprising: a master wireless communication device constructing a wireless communication network; and a slave wireless communication device managed by the master wireless communication device,
A wireless communication system, wherein the wireless communication device of the master is the wireless communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

Images