JP2024044748A - Vehicle communication system and communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a technology that makes it easy to set up connections at multiple access points. [Solution] When a terminal device 400 is connected to the first outside-vehicle access point 200a of a first outside-vehicle access point 200a and a second outside-vehicle access point 200b, a management device 300 receives information about the first outside-vehicle access point 200a from the terminal device 400. The management device 300 stores parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point 200a and parameters of the second outside-vehicle access point 200b, and transmits the parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point 200a to an in-vehicle access point 100 based on the information about the first outside-vehicle access point 200a received from the terminal device 400. The in-vehicle access point 100 sets the parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point 200a received from the management device 300. [Selected Figure] FIG.

Description

The present invention relates to communication technology, and particularly to a communication system and communication method for a vehicle that allows a terminal device to connect to two or more access points.

In order for an access point and a terminal device to connect, connection information that identifies the access point's network (identifier (hereinafter referred to as "SSID"), encryption mode, and encryption key) is set in the terminal device. The terminal device performs connection authentication with the access point based on the SSID of the access point set in the terminal device, and if the authentication is successful, the connection between the terminal device and the access point is completed. However, the process of setting connection information in the terminal device is complicated. Therefore, when an access point receives a connection request from a terminal device, if the terminal device is the same as the terminal device that has been authenticated for connection permission by a connection permission device, it transmits connection information to the terminal device (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2016-92433 A

When an access point (hereinafter referred to as "in-vehicle access point") is installed inside a vehicle and multiple access points (hereinafter referred to as "out-vehicle access points") are installed outside the vehicle, when a user moves from outside the vehicle to inside the vehicle, the terminal device switches the connection destination from one of the multiple out-vehicle access points to the in-vehicle access point. There is a demand for easy settings to realize such switching.

The present invention was made in light of these circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a technology that makes it easier to set up connections at multiple access points.

In order to solve the above problem, a vehicle communication system according to one embodiment of the present invention includes an in-vehicle access point mounted on a vehicle, a first outside-vehicle access point installed outside the vehicle, a second outside-vehicle access point installed outside the vehicle, and a management device capable of communicating with the in-vehicle access points and with a terminal device that can select and connect to one of the in-vehicle access point, the first outside-vehicle access point, and the second outside-vehicle access point. When the terminal device is connected to the first outside-vehicle access point of the first outside-vehicle access point and the second outside-vehicle access point, the management device receives information about the first outside-vehicle access point from the terminal device, stores parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point and parameters of the second outside-vehicle access point, and transmits the parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point to the in-vehicle access point based on the information about the first outside-vehicle access point received from the terminal device, and the in-vehicle access point sets the parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point received from the management device.

Another aspect of the invention is also a vehicle communication system. This vehicle communication system includes an in-vehicle access point mounted on the vehicle, a first out-of-vehicle access point installed outside the vehicle, and a second out-vehicle access point installed outside the vehicle. The terminal device can connect by selecting one of the in-vehicle access point, the first out-of-vehicle access point, and the second out-of-vehicle access point; When the first outside access point and the terminal device are connected, the inside vehicle access point receives information regarding the first outside vehicle access point from the terminal device, and the inside vehicle access point receives the parameters of the first outside vehicle access point. and the parameters of the second outside-vehicle access point, and set the parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point based on the information regarding the first outside-vehicle access point received from the terminal device.

Yet another aspect of the invention is a communication method. This method includes an in-vehicle access point installed in a vehicle, a first out-of-vehicle access point installed outside the vehicle, a second out-vehicle access point installed outside the vehicle, and an in-vehicle access point. A vehicular communication system comprising a management device that is capable of communicating with a terminal device that can be connected by selecting one of an in-vehicle access point, a first out-of-vehicle access point, and a second out-of-vehicle access point. In the communication method, when the terminal device is connected to the first out-of-vehicle access point of the first out-of-vehicle access point and the second out-of-vehicle access point, the management device is configured to Upon receiving the information from the terminal device, the management device stores the parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point and the parameters of the second outside-vehicle access point, and also stores the information regarding the first outside-vehicle access point received from the terminal device. Then, the parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point are transmitted to the in-vehicle access point, and the in-vehicle access point sets the parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point received from the management device.

Yet another aspect of the invention is also a communication method. This method includes a vehicle communication system that includes an in-vehicle access point installed in a vehicle, a first outside-vehicle access point installed outside the vehicle, and a second outside-vehicle access point installed outside the vehicle. A communication method in which a terminal device can connect by selecting one of an in-vehicle access point, a first out-of-vehicle access point, and a second out-of-vehicle access point; When the terminal device is connected to the first outside access point of the outside access points, the in-vehicle access point receives information about the first outside access point from the terminal device, and the in-vehicle access point receives information about the first outside access point from the terminal device. The parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point and the parameters of the second outside-vehicle access point are stored, and the parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point are set based on the information regarding the first outside-vehicle access point received from the terminal device. do.

In addition, any combination of the above components, and any transformation of the present invention into a method, device, system, recording medium, computer program, etc., are also valid aspects of the present invention.

The present invention makes it easy to set up connections across multiple access points.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle communication system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data structure of the database in FIG. 1 . 2 is a sequence diagram showing a communication procedure in the vehicle communication system of FIG. 1; FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle communication system according to a modified example.

Before describing the present invention in detail, an overview will be given. The embodiment of the present invention relates to a vehicle communication system including an in-vehicle access point mounted on a vehicle, an outside-vehicle access point installed outside the vehicle, for example at home, and a management device capable of communicating with the in-vehicle access point and a terminal device. In particular, a case is assumed in which a plurality of outside-vehicle access points are included. At home, a user's terminal device connects to an outside-vehicle access point to configure a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) communication path for the Internet, etc. In such a situation, the SSID and password of the outside-vehicle access point are set to values that are set in advance in the outside-vehicle access point, or values set by the user for the outside-vehicle access point. When a terminal device is connected for the first time to an in-vehicle access point different from the outside-vehicle access point, the SSID and password values set in the inside-vehicle access point must be registered in the terminal device.

When a terminal device moves from an area where an outside-vehicle access point is connected to an area where an inside-vehicle access point is connected, the terminal device must first disconnect from the outside-vehicle access point and then connect to the inside-vehicle access point because the outside-vehicle access point and the inside-vehicle access point have different SSIDs and passwords. For the terminal device, this means that the communication path is temporarily disconnected, and for the user, it does not result in a seamless communication connection switching operation.

If the SSID and password are the same between the access point outside the vehicle and the access point inside the vehicle, seamless communication connection switching can be achieved. In that case, the same SSID and password as for the access point outside the vehicle must be manually entered for the access point inside the vehicle. Further, the number of access points outside the vehicle may be plural. If the SSID and password of multiple access points outside the vehicle are different, the SSID and password of the access point inside the vehicle are the same as the SSID and password of one access point outside the vehicle, but the SSID and password of the other access point outside the vehicle are different. , different from password. As a result, seamless communication connection switching operation between the access point outside the vehicle and the access point inside the vehicle cannot be achieved.

In this embodiment, the wireless environment setting parameters such as the SSID, PreShared-Key (hereinafter referred to as "password"), and radio wave channel (hereinafter referred to as "Channel") of the access point outside the vehicle are also stored in the database for the access point inside the vehicle. Automatically migrate via .

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a vehicle communication system 1000. The vehicular communication system 1000 includes a first to third out-of-vehicle access point 200a to a third out-of-vehicle access point 200c, collectively referred to as an in-vehicle access point 100 and an out-of-vehicle access point 200, and a management device 300. The number of external access points 200 included in the vehicle communication system 1000 is not limited to "3". The in-vehicle access point 100 includes a mobile communication unit 110 and a wireless LAN communication unit 112, and the management device 300 includes a database 310. Further, a terminal device 400 can be connected to the in-vehicle access point 100 or the out-vehicle access point 200. Terminal device 400 includes a mobile communication section 410 and a wireless LAN communication section 412.

The in-vehicle access point 100 is mounted on a vehicle (not shown). The mobile communication unit 110 is capable of performing mobile communication such as 4G/5G communication. Mobile communication unit 110 communicates with management device 300 through mobile communication. The wireless LAN communication unit 112 is capable of performing wireless LAN communication. The wireless LAN communication unit 112 can communicate with the terminal device 400 by wireless LAN communication.

The outside-vehicle access point 200 is installed outside the vehicle. For example, the first outside-vehicle access point 200a is installed at the home of the vehicle user, the second outside-vehicle access point 200b is installed at the user's workplace, and the third outside-vehicle access point 200c is installed at a place visited by the user. The outside-vehicle access point 200 can perform wireless LAN communication in the same manner as the in-vehicle access point 100. The outside-vehicle access point 200 can communicate with the terminal device 400 via wireless LAN communication. Here, the parameters (SSID, password) set for each of the first outside-vehicle access point 200a to the third outside-vehicle access point 200c are different from each other.

The management device 300 can communicate with the in-vehicle access point 100 and the terminal device 400. The database 310 managed by the management device 300 will be described later. The terminal device 400 is carried by a user. The mobile communication unit 410 can perform mobile communication such as 4G/5G communication. The wireless LAN communication unit 412 can perform wireless LAN communication. The wireless LAN communication unit 412 can select and communicate with the in-vehicle access point 100 or any one of the first outside-vehicle access point 200a to the third outside-vehicle access point 200c by wireless LAN communication.

The in-vehicle access point 100 has an ID that allows it to access the database 310 of the management device 300. For example, the ID is "1". The ID "1" is displayed on the casing of the in-vehicle access point 100 using a QR code (registered trademark), symbol, or the like. The terminal device 400 has an imaging function, and acquires the ID "1" by reading the ID "1" displayed on the casing of the in-vehicle access point 100. The mobile communication unit 410 of the terminal device 400 can access the database 310 using ID "1".

In this embodiment, as an example, it is assumed that the first outside-vehicle access point 200a of the first outside-vehicle access point 200a to the third outside-vehicle access point 200c is connected to the wireless LAN communication unit 412 of the terminal device 400 by wireless LAN communication. Therefore, the SSID, password, and channel of the first outside-vehicle access point 200a are set in the wireless LAN communication unit 412. The mobile communication unit 410 transmits identification information for identifying the first outside-vehicle access point 200a to which the wireless LAN communication unit 412 connects to the management device 300. Such identification information can be said to be information about the first outside-vehicle access point 200a. If the wireless LAN communication unit 412 of the terminal device 400 is connected to the second outside-vehicle access point 200b, the mobile communication unit 410 transmits identification information for identifying the second outside-vehicle access point 200b to the management device 300.

The management device 300 receives the identification information from the terminal device 400. The database 310 prestores parameters for each of the multiple outside-vehicle access points 200 to which the wireless LAN communication unit 412 of the terminal device 400 can connect. FIG. 2 shows the data structure of the database 310. The identification information "A1" is identification information for identifying the first outside-vehicle access point 200a, and the SSID "B1", password "C1", and channel "D1" corresponding to the identification information "A1" are parameters set in the first outside-vehicle access point 200a. The identification information "A2" is identification information for identifying the second outside-vehicle access point 200b, and the identification information "A3" is identification information for identifying the third outside-vehicle access point 200c. When the identification information received from the terminal device 400 is "A1", the management device 300 acquires the parameters of the SSID "B1", password "C1", and channel "D1" from the database 310. Returning to FIG. 1, the management device 300 transmits the acquired parameters to the in-vehicle access point 100.

The mobile communication unit 110 of the in-vehicle access point 100 receives parameters from the management device 300. The wireless LAN communication unit 112 sets the received parameters. For example, the wireless LAN communication unit 112 sets the parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point 200a, which are SSID "B1", password "C1", and channel "D1".

When a user carrying the terminal device 400 moves from home to inside a vehicle, the wireless LAN communication unit 412 of the terminal device 400 is connected to the in-vehicle access point 100 that has inherited the parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point 200a.

In terms of hardware, this configuration can be realized using the CPU, memory, and other LSI of any computer, and in terms of software, it can be realized by programs loaded into memory, but here it is realized by the cooperation of these. It depicts the functional blocks that will be implemented. Therefore, those skilled in the art will understand that these functional blocks can be implemented in various ways using only hardware, only software, or a combination thereof.

The operation of the vehicle communication system 1000 with the above configuration will be explained. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing a communication procedure by the vehicle communication system 1000. The first external access point 200a and the terminal device 400 perform wireless LAN communication (S10). The terminal device 400 transmits the identification information to the management device 300 (S12). The management device 300 transmits parameters corresponding to the identification information to the in-vehicle access point 100 (S14). The in-vehicle access point 100 sets parameters (S16). The terminal device 400 and the in-vehicle access point 100 perform wireless LAN communication (S18).

(Modified example)
Up until now, the database 310 has been located outside the vehicle. Database 310 may be located within in-vehicle access point 100. FIG. 4 shows the configuration of a vehicle communication system 1000 according to a modification. The vehicular communication system 1000 includes a first out-of-vehicle access point 200a to a third out-of-vehicle access point 200c, collectively referred to as an in-vehicle access point 100 and an out-of-vehicle access point 200. The number of external access points 200 included in the vehicle communication system 1000 is not limited to "3". The in-vehicle access point 100 includes a mobile communication section 110, a wireless LAN communication section 112, and a database 310. Further, a terminal device 400 can be connected to the in-vehicle access point 100 or the out-vehicle access point 200.

As in the previous example, assume that the first outside-vehicle access point 200a of the first outside-vehicle access point 200a to the third outside-vehicle access point 200c is connected to the wireless LAN communication unit 412 of the terminal device 400 via wireless LAN communication. The mobile communication unit 410 transmits identification information to the in-vehicle access point 100 for identifying the first outside-vehicle access point 200a to which the wireless LAN communication unit 412 is connected.

The mobile communication unit 110 of the in-vehicle access point 100 receives the identification information from the terminal device 400. The database 310 stores parameters for each of the multiple out-of-vehicle access points 200 to which the wireless LAN communication unit 412 of the terminal device 400 can connect. The data structure of the database 310 is the same as before.

When the identification information received from the terminal device 400 is “A1”, the in-vehicle access point 100 acquires the parameters of SSID “B1”, password “C1”, and Channel “D1” from the database 310. The wireless LAN communication unit 112 of the in-vehicle access point 100 sets the received parameters. For example, the wireless LAN communication unit 112 sets the parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point 200a: SSID "B1", password "C1", and Channel "D1".

According to this embodiment, when the management device receives information about an outside-vehicle access point to which a terminal device is connected, the management device transmits the parameters of the outside-vehicle access point to the inside-vehicle access point, so that the parameters of the outside-vehicle access point can be set to the inside-vehicle access point. In addition, since the parameters of the outside-vehicle access point are set to the inside-vehicle access point, it is easy to set the connection between the inside-vehicle access point and the outside-vehicle access point.

In addition, since the parameters of the external access point are set in the internal access point, the network can be seamlessly switched from the wireless environment that is routinely used indoors to the wireless environment inside the vehicle. Furthermore, the parameters of the internal access point are automatically updated according to the wireless LAN environment to which the user was previously connected, so they are not fixed settings, and unauthorized misuse of the internal access point can be prevented. Furthermore, since the internal access point includes a database that stores parameters for each of the multiple external access points, the degree of freedom in the configuration can be improved.

The present invention has been described above based on examples. These examples are merely illustrative, and those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications are possible in the combination of each component and each treatment process, and that such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention.

100 In-vehicle access point, 110 Mobile communication unit, 112 Wireless LAN communication unit, 200 Outside-vehicle access point, 300 Management device, 310 Database, 400 Terminal device, 410 Mobile communication unit, 412 Wireless LAN communication unit, 1000 Vehicle communication system.

Claims (4)

An in-vehicle access point installed in the vehicle,
a first external access point installed outside the vehicle;
a second external access point installed outside the vehicle;
It is capable of communicating with the in-vehicle access point, and is also capable of communicating with a terminal device that can be connected by selecting one of the in-vehicle access point, the first out-of-vehicle access point, and the second out-of-vehicle access point. Equipped with a management device,
When the terminal device is connected to the first external access point of the first external access point and the second external access point, the management device stores information regarding the first external access point. received from the terminal device,
The management device stores parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point and parameters of the second outside-vehicle access point, and based on information regarding the first outside-vehicle access point received from the terminal device, transmitting parameters of the first out-of-vehicle access point to the in-vehicle access point;
The in-vehicle access point is a vehicle communication system that sets parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point received from the management device. An in-vehicle access point installed in the vehicle,
a first outside-vehicle access point installed outside the vehicle;
and a second external access point installed outside the vehicle,
A terminal device can be connected by selecting one of the in-vehicle access point, the first out-of-vehicle access point, and the second out-of-vehicle access point,
When the terminal device is connected to the first external access point of the first external access point and the second external access point, the in-vehicle access point is the first external access point. receiving information regarding from the terminal device;
The in-vehicle access point stores parameters of the first out-of-vehicle access point and parameters of the second out-of-vehicle access point, and based on information regarding the first out-of-vehicle access point received from the terminal device. A vehicle communication system configured to set parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point. An in-vehicle access point installed in a vehicle, a first out-of-vehicle access point installed outside the vehicle, a second out-vehicle access point installed outside the vehicle, and communication with the in-vehicle access point. and a management device capable of communicating with a terminal device that can select and connect one of the in-vehicle access point, the first outside-vehicle access point, and the second outside-vehicle access point. A communication method in a communication system, comprising:
When the terminal device is connected to the first external access point of the first external access point and the second external access point, the management device stores information regarding the first external access point. received from the terminal device,
The management device stores parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point and parameters of the second outside-vehicle access point, and based on information regarding the first outside-vehicle access point received from the terminal device, transmitting parameters of the first out-of-vehicle access point to the in-vehicle access point;
The in-vehicle access point sets parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point received from the management device. Communication in a vehicle communication system comprising an in-vehicle access point mounted on a vehicle, a first outside-vehicle access point installed outside the vehicle, and a second outside-vehicle access point installed outside the vehicle. A method,
A terminal device can be connected by selecting one of the in-vehicle access point, the first out-of-vehicle access point, and the second out-of-vehicle access point,
When the terminal device is connected to the first external access point of the first external access point and the second external access point, the in-vehicle access point is the first external access point. receiving information regarding from the terminal device;
The in-vehicle access point stores parameters of the first out-of-vehicle access point and parameters of the second out-of-vehicle access point, and based on information regarding the first out-of-vehicle access point received from the terminal device. A communication method for setting parameters of the first outside-vehicle access point.

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