CN111447660A - Network roaming control method and device of terminal equipment and cloud control equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The application relates to a network roaming control method and device of a terminal device and a cloud control device. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a roaming request sent by first access equipment; the roaming request is sent by the first access equipment when the target terminal equipment is determined to meet the roaming condition; determining a network communication protocol of at least one second access device and signal strength between the second access device and a target terminal device; when a target access device is selected from at least one second access device, controlling the first access device to disconnect the network connection with the target terminal device; the target access equipment is second access equipment, the network communication protocol of which is matched with the terminal communication protocol of which the signal intensity meets the preset condition; and controlling the target access equipment to establish network connection with the target terminal equipment. According to the technical scheme, the cloud control device can automatically select the target access device from the connected access devices so as to ensure that the target terminal device can smoothly access the network, and therefore network roaming is efficiently achieved.

Description

Network roaming control method and device of terminal equipment and cloud control equipment

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of network technologies, and in particular, to a network roaming control method and apparatus for a terminal device, a cloud control device, and a computer-readable storage medium.

Background

With the development of network technology, a network device system of a distributed AP (Access Point) is currently available, in which a terminal device can perform network switching between different APs to implement network roaming, so as to ensure a network signal of the terminal device.

In the conventional technology, network roaming of a terminal device is mainly realized by the following ways: the terminal device senses the signal strength of the surrounding APs and sends a request to one of the APs according to the signal strength to establish a connection with the AP, and actually, due to the problems of hardware configuration and the like of the terminal device, the terminal device may not be able to effectively access the network through the AP, so that there is a case that smooth roaming or even roaming is impossible, and at this time, the terminal device must re-access the other APs, which results in low network roaming efficiency.

It is to be noted that the information disclosed in the above background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the present invention and therefore may include information that does not constitute prior art known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the foregoing, it is necessary to provide a network roaming control method and apparatus for a terminal device, a cloud control device, and a computer-readable storage medium, which can effectively improve network roaming efficiency.

A network roaming control method of a terminal device is applied to a cloud control device, the cloud control device is connected with a first access device and at least one second access device, the first access device is connected with a target terminal device, and the method comprises the following steps: receiving a roaming request sent by the first access equipment; the roaming request is sent by the first access equipment when the target terminal equipment is determined to meet roaming conditions; the roaming request carries a terminal communication protocol of the target terminal equipment; determining a network communication protocol of the at least one second access device and a signal strength between the target terminal device and the at least one second access device in response to the roaming request; when a target access device is selected from the at least one second access device, controlling the first access device to disconnect the network connection with the target terminal device; the target access device is a second access device, the network communication protocol is matched with the terminal communication protocol, and the signal intensity meets a preset condition; and controlling the target access equipment to establish network connection with the target terminal equipment.

The utility model provides a network roaming control device of terminal equipment, is applied to high in the clouds controlgear, high in the clouds controlgear is connected with first access equipment and at least one second access equipment, first access equipment is connected with target terminal equipment, the device includes: a roaming request receiving module, configured to receive a roaming request sent by the first access device; the roaming request is sent by the first access equipment when the target terminal equipment is determined to meet roaming conditions; the roaming request carries a terminal communication protocol of the target terminal equipment; a signal determination module, configured to determine, in response to the roaming request, a network communication protocol of the at least one second access device and a signal strength with the target terminal device; a connection establishing module, configured to control the first access device to disconnect a network connection with the target terminal device when a target access device is selected from the at least one second access device; the target access device is a second access device, the network communication protocol is matched with the terminal communication protocol, and the signal intensity meets a preset condition; and the connection disconnection module is used for controlling the target access equipment to establish network connection with the target terminal equipment.

A cloud control device is connected with a first access device and at least one second access device, the first access device is connected with a target terminal device, the cloud control device comprises a memory and a processor, the memory stores a computer program, and the processor executes the computer program to realize the following steps: receiving a roaming request sent by the first access equipment; the roaming request is sent by the first access equipment when the target terminal equipment is determined to meet roaming conditions; the roaming request carries a terminal communication protocol of the target terminal equipment; determining a network communication protocol of the at least one second access device and a signal strength between the target terminal device and the at least one second access device in response to the roaming request; when a target access device is selected from the at least one second access device, controlling the first access device to disconnect the network connection with the target terminal device; the target access device is a second access device, the network communication protocol is matched with the terminal communication protocol, and the signal intensity meets a preset condition; and controlling the target access equipment to establish network connection with the target terminal equipment.

A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored which, when executed by a processor, carries out the steps of: receiving a roaming request sent by the first access equipment; the roaming request is sent by the first access equipment when the target terminal equipment is determined to meet roaming conditions; the roaming request carries a terminal communication protocol of the target terminal equipment; determining a network communication protocol of the at least one second access device and a signal strength between the target terminal device and the at least one second access device in response to the roaming request; when a target access device is selected from the at least one second access device, controlling the first access device to disconnect the network connection with the target terminal device; the target access device is a second access device, the network communication protocol is matched with the terminal communication protocol, and the signal intensity meets a preset condition; and controlling the target access equipment to establish network connection with the target terminal equipment.

According to the network roaming control method and device of the terminal device, the cloud control device and the computer readable storage medium, when the target terminal device meets the roaming condition, the first access device sends the roaming request to the cloud control device. After the cloud control device receives the roaming request, the target access device, of which the network communication protocol is matched with the terminal communication protocol and the signal strength meets the conditions, is determined in the at least one second access device connected with the cloud control device, the first access device is controlled to disconnect the network connection with the target terminal device, and the target access device is controlled to establish the network connection with the target terminal device. The cloud control equipment can automatically select the target access equipment from the connected access equipment so as to ensure that the target terminal equipment is smoothly accessed into the network and further realize network roaming efficiently.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an application environment of a network roaming control method of a terminal device according to an embodiment;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a network roaming control method of a terminal device according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the connection of a cloud-pipe-end three-tier architecture in one embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic connection diagram of a cloud-pipe-end three-layer architecture in another embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic connection diagram of a cloud-pipe-end three-layer architecture in yet another embodiment;

fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a network roaming control method of a terminal device according to another embodiment;

fig. 7 is a timing diagram illustrating a network roaming control method of a terminal device according to an embodiment;

fig. 8 is a block diagram showing a network roaming control apparatus of a terminal device according to an embodiment;

fig. 9 is an internal structure diagram of the cloud control device in one embodiment.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the present application is described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application.

The network roaming control method of the terminal device provided by the application can be applied to the application environment shown in fig. 1. The application environment includes a cloud control device 101, a first access device 102, and at least one second access device 103 (fig. 1 shows one second access device, and in an actual application scenario, the number of the second access devices may be more). The first access device 102 and the at least one second access device 103 are respectively connected to the cloud control device 101 through a network, and the first access device 102 is further connected to a target terminal device 104 (which may communicate through the network). The cloud control device 101, the first access device 102, and the second access device 103 may be implemented by terminal devices or servers. Further, the terminal devices (including the target terminal device 104) may be, but are not limited to, various personal computers, notebook computers, smart phones, tablet computers, portable wearable devices, and smart home-type terminal devices (such as smart speakers, sweeping robots, etc.), and the server may be implemented by an independent server or a server cluster formed by a plurality of servers.

In an embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, a network roaming control method for a terminal device is provided, which is described by taking an example that the method is applied to a cloud control device 101 in fig. 1, the cloud control device is connected with a first access device and at least one second access device, and the first access device is connected with a target terminal device.

The access device refers to a network access device and can be connected with the terminal device to ensure that the connected terminal device can be accessed to the network to further realize the service flow through the network. Further, the access device may refer to an AP (access point), a router, a wireless Access Controller (AC), and the like. The types of the first access device and the second access device may be the same or different, and for different cases: the first access device is an AP, and the second access device is an AC.

In addition, the number of the second access devices may be one, two or even more. When the number of the second access devices is two or more, the second access devices may be directly connected to the cloud control device, or may be indirectly connected to the cloud control device in a cascade manner.

Furthermore, the cloud control device has an analysis decision, and can determine the target access device from the second access device through intelligent analysis. The cloud control device further has a function of controlling issuing, and can control the connected first access device and second access device, for example: and sending a connection instruction to access equipment (including the first access equipment and the second access equipment) to control the corresponding access equipment to establish network connection with some terminal equipment or some terminal equipment. The cloud control device further has a data acquisition function, and can receive information or a communication request sent by the access device, for example: the access device may receive connection information of the terminal device sent by the access device (e.g., receive the number of currently connected terminal devices sent by the first access device, the location of the terminal device, the distance between the first access device and the connected terminal device, the signal strength, etc.), receive a roaming request sent by the access device, and so on. Furthermore, after the cloud control device collects the information sent by the access device, the information can be stored in the database, and when the information needs to be used, the relevant information can be directly read from the database, for example: the method comprises the steps of storing the signal strength between first access equipment and target terminal equipment into a database, reading the signal strength from the database when a roaming request aiming at the target terminal equipment and sent by the first access equipment is received, and determining the target access equipment from second access equipment according to the signal strength.

A terminal device (Station, which may be referred to as STA for short) may refer to a client device, a WIFI device, a smartphone, and the like. Nowadays, intelligent terminals become internet devices which can not be separated from families and individuals, and terminal devices are connected with the internet through APs, so that the requirement that individuals or devices are connected with the internet is met.

The method comprises the following steps:

s201, receiving a roaming request sent by the first access device; the roaming request is sent by the first access equipment when the target terminal equipment is determined to meet roaming conditions; the roaming request carries a terminal communication protocol of the target terminal device.

Roaming may refer to switching a terminal device from a network state connected to one access device to a network state connected to another access device. For wireless example, a user may be moving within the coverage area of a wireless network. However, due to the limited signal coverage of a single AP device, a user may often cross from one AP coverage to another AP coverage during the movement. In order to avoid the interruption of network communication caused by the handover of the mobile subscriber between different APs, a wireless roaming technique is used. Further, the roaming request may refer to a request for requesting the cloud control device to determine a new connectable access device for the target terminal device.

The roaming condition refers to a condition that the target terminal device needs to perform network roaming, and may be a corresponding network signal state when the network connection with the first access device cannot meet the requirement of normal network communication of the target terminal device. Further, the roaming condition may be determined by the signal strength between the first access device and the target terminal device, for example, when the signal strength of the first access device and the signal strength of the target terminal device are smaller than a certain set strength threshold (the strength threshold may be determined according to an actual situation, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention), it is determined that the roaming condition is satisfied.

Due to the evolution of the network communication protocol, great capital cost and time cost exist in the upgrading of client hardware and software, so that the upgrading of terminal equipment of many users cannot keep pace with the upgrading of the network communication protocol, for example, many users use 4G mobile phones at present, but 4G mobile phones cannot use 5G networks, which causes the problem that the fragmentation of the terminal equipment (especially personal terminal equipment) is abnormally serious. In the process of network roaming, terminal equipment often tries surrounding network access points one by one, when the communication quality is not high after the terminal equipment is connected with the network access point A, the terminal equipment tries to be connected with the network access point B, and when the communication quality is not high after the terminal equipment is connected with the network access point B, the terminal equipment tries to be connected with the network access point C to directly find a proper network access point, but the efficiency of the network roaming mode is very low. The inventor finds that in the network roaming process, it is necessary to automatically find an access device matched with the network communication protocol for the target terminal device, so that the network roaming efficiency can be greatly improved. Further, the terminal communication protocol (protocol may also be referred to as specification) of the target terminal device refers to the network communication protocol of the target terminal device. The network communication protocol may be 802.11 protocol (802.11 kvr), FAST BSS, etc.

The target terminal device and the first access device both have respective network communication protocols, if the network communication protocols of the target terminal device and the first access device are matched, the data transmission speed between the target terminal device and the first access device may be higher, and when the network communication protocols of the target terminal device and the first access device are not matched, the data transmission speed between the target terminal device and the first access device is lower, at this time, the target terminal device needs to perform network roaming to switch to the access device matched with the network communication protocol of the target terminal device, and therefore, when the network communication protocols of the target terminal device and the first access device are not matched, the roaming condition can be considered to be met. The network communication protocols can be matched, namely the network communication protocols are the same, or can be different, but the network communication protocols can realize good network communication (for example, a 3G mobile phone can be connected with a 3G network, can also be connected with a 4G network, and can meet the requirement of 3G network communication, the 3G mobile phone can be considered to be matched with the 3G network and the 4G network, on the contrary, the 3G mobile phone can only use the 2G network when being connected with the 2G network, and the network communication quality at the moment can not meet the requirement of 3G network communication, so that the 3G mobile phone can be considered to be not matched with the 2G network).

In S201, the first access device determines whether the target terminal device meets a roaming condition in real time, and the cloud control device sends a roaming request when the roaming condition is met, so as to request the cloud control device to select an access device more suitable for the target terminal device from other connected access devices, so as to implement network roaming of the target terminal device.

Further, in an embodiment, the receiving the roaming request sent by the first access device includes: and receiving a roaming request sent by the first access equipment when the signal strength between the first access equipment and the target terminal equipment is smaller than a second strength threshold value. In this embodiment, when the signal strength between the first access device and the target terminal device is too low, the first access device sends a roaming request to the cloud control device to request the cloud control device to switch the target terminal device to the access device with higher signal strength, so as to ensure the signal strength of the network to which the terminal device is connected.

In one embodiment, the receiving the roaming request sent by the first access device includes: and receiving a roaming request sent by the first access equipment when the corresponding network communication protocol is not matched with the terminal communication protocol. In this embodiment, the first access device sends a roaming request to the cloud control device when the network communication protocol between the first access device and the target terminal device is not matched, so as to request the cloud control device to switch the target terminal device to the access device matched with the network communication protocol, so as to ensure the signal intensity of the network to which the terminal device is accessed.

In some embodiments, the second access device may also actively detect surrounding terminal devices, determine the signal strength after connection with the terminal devices, and simultaneously obtain the signal strength between the terminal devices and the currently connected first access device from the cloud control device. When a certain second access device finds that the signal strength between the certain second access device and the target terminal device is stronger than the signal strength between the first access device and the target terminal device, a roaming request aiming at the target access device can be actively sent to the cloud control device so as to request the cloud control device to determine a new access device for the target terminal device again.

In other embodiments, the terminal device may also directly communicate with the cloud control device through a network, and further directly send a roaming request to the cloud control device when the communication quality with the first access device is poor, so as to request the cloud control device to determine a new access device for the first access device.

In some embodiments, the first access device may obtain signal strengths between the target terminal device and the surrounding access devices, and attach the signal strengths to the roaming request, so that the cloud control device determines, from the second access device, the target access device that is more matched with the target terminal device according to the signal strengths attached to the roaming request. The target access device may be one device or two or more devices, which can ensure good network connection quality of the target terminal device (in the case that the target access device is two or more devices, one of the target access devices may be randomly selected or one of the target access devices may be selected as the target access device according to a certain rule to establish network connection with the target terminal device, and for convenience of description, one target access device is taken as an example in the embodiments of the present invention for description).

And S202, responding to the roaming request, and determining the network communication protocol of the at least one second access device and the signal strength between the at least one second access device and the target terminal device.

In S202, after receiving the roaming request, the cloud control device determines, according to the information sent by the second access device, a network communication protocol of the second access device and signal strengths between the second access device and the connected terminal devices, and determines signal strengths between the second access devices and the target terminal device from the network communication protocol and the signal strengths. The Signal strength may be determined by RSSI (Received Signal strength indication) between the access device and the terminal device.

After the access device is connected with the cloud control device, the network communication protocol and the connection state of the access device with the terminal device can be sent to the cloud control device, and meanwhile, the connection state of the access device with the terminal device can be updated periodically. Further, the connection status may refer to the number of terminal devices connected to the access device, the distance between the access device and each terminal device, the signal strength, the number of network interactions, and the like.

S203, when a target access device is selected from the at least one second access device, controlling the first access device to disconnect the network connection with the target terminal device; the target access device is a second access device, the network communication protocol is matched with the terminal communication protocol, and the signal intensity meets a preset condition.

In S203, the cloud control device obtains the network communication protocols of the second access devices, then performs matching judgment on the network communication protocols of the second access devices and the terminal communication protocol of the target terminal device, determines the signal strength between the second access device and the target terminal device (the signal strength can be obtained from the second access device) when it is judged that the network communication protocol of a certain second access device matches the terminal communication protocol (for example, the network communication protocols are the same or compatible), and judges that the second access device is the target access device when the signal strength meets a preset condition.

The condition that the signal strength needs to be satisfied may be that the signal strength needs to be greater than a preset signal strength threshold (the threshold may be a network signal strength at which the target terminal device can normally implement its service flow). Of course, the conditions that the signal strength needs to satisfy may also be determined according to the type of the target terminal device or the requirement state of the network signal, for example: if the target terminal device is a wearable device, the condition that the signal strength needs to be met may be that the signal strength needs to be greater than a certain smaller signal strength threshold; if the target terminal device is a smart phone, the condition that the signal strength needs to be met may be that the signal strength needs to be greater than a certain larger signal strength threshold; if the target terminal device needs stronger signal strength when implementing its service flow, the condition that the signal strength needs to be satisfied may be that the signal strength needs to be greater than a certain larger signal strength threshold; if the target terminal device does not need a strong signal strength when implementing its service flow, the condition that the signal strength needs to be satisfied may be that the signal strength needs to be greater than a certain smaller signal strength threshold.

After the target access device is determined, the cloud control device may send a network disconnection instruction to the first access device to trigger the first access device to disconnect from the target terminal device.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises: and when the target access equipment is not selected from the at least one second access equipment, sending roaming failure prompt information to the first access equipment so that the first access equipment maintains network connection with the target terminal equipment.

When the target access device is not determined in the connected second access devices, it indicates that the first access device is a more suitable access device, and at this time, network roaming is not required, so that the first access device can be controlled to maintain network connection with the target terminal device.

S204, controlling the target access device to establish network connection with the target terminal device.

The cloud control device may send a network connection instruction to the target access device. The target access device can send a connection request to the target terminal device, and judges that the network connection between the target access device and the target terminal device is established when receiving a connection response returned by the target terminal device.

It should be noted that, the disconnection of the target terminal device from the first access device and the establishment of the connection with the target access device are not time-sequential, and the old connection may be disconnected first and then the new connection may be established, or the new connection may be established first and then the old connection may be disconnected, or they may be performed simultaneously.

With the implementation of the speed-increasing and fee-reducing policy, the network bandwidth is rapidly increased, and the network capacity is rapidly expanded, but in a wireless local area network with large capacity and wide coverage, due to the delay of the hardware and software upgrading of the terminal device, the terminal device cannot roam smoothly or even roam, so that the user experience cannot be improved along with the increase of the network device and the network bandwidth, and the satisfaction degree of network use is influenced. For example, for a new client, autonomous roaming handover of a wireless area network can be achieved through technologies such as 802.11kvr and FAST BSS, while for an inventory client, a large part of the existing clients cannot support FAST BSS technologies such as 802.11kvr, or only partially support related specifications of 802.11kvr, and thus efficient FAST roaming handover cannot be achieved when a wireless area network is deployed. In the network roaming control method of the terminal device, the cloud control device can automatically select the target access device from the connected access devices so as to ensure that the target terminal device is successfully matched with the target access network, thereby efficiently realizing network roaming.

In some embodiments, the cloud control device may be further connected with a diagnosis device. The diagnosis device can perform network diagnosis on the access device, when it is determined that the target access device matched with the target terminal device does not exist, the whole network state of the access device connected with the cloud control device can be judged to be not good, at the moment, a diagnosis instruction can be sent to the diagnosis device to trigger the diagnosis device to perform network diagnosis on the first access device and each second access device, the reason that the network state is not good is determined, and the reason is processed to recover the network state of each access device. By the method, network diagnosis of all access devices can be realized through roaming control of certain terminal equipment, and the network running state of the whole system can be effectively ensured.

In one embodiment, the second access device is a wireless Access Point (AP); the method further comprises the following steps: selecting a candidate wireless access point of the at least one wireless access point, wherein the network communication protocol is matched with the terminal communication protocol; and determining the candidate wireless access points with the signal strength higher than a first strength threshold value as the target access equipment.

The setting of the first strength threshold may refer to the foregoing embodiment that determines the signal strength and satisfies the condition, which is not described herein again.

In this embodiment, candidate wireless access points are determined according to a network communication protocol among the connected wireless access points, and then a target wireless access point is determined from the candidate wireless access points according to the signal strength, as the target access device, the determination process is simple, the determination efficiency of the target access device can be effectively ensured, and further the network roaming efficiency of the target terminal device is improved.

In some embodiments, if a candidate wireless access point whose network communication protocol matches the terminal communication protocol is determined, the candidate wireless access point may also be directly determined as the target wireless access point, or directly determined as the target wireless access point when the number of candidate wireless access points is 1. In such a mode, unnecessary signal strength judgment is not needed, the network roaming time can be effectively shortened, and the network roaming efficiency of the target terminal equipment is improved.

In some embodiments, the first access device may also be a wireless access point. That is, when the connection state of the target terminal device with a certain wireless access point is not good enough, the target terminal device is switched to be connected with another wireless access point, and network roaming is achieved. Fig. 3 is a connection diagram of a cloud-pipe-end three-layer architecture in one embodiment. Wherein "cloud" refers to the cloud control device 301; "management" refers to the first wireless access point 302 and the second wireless access points 303 and 304 connected to the cloud control device 301, and "management" can manage and control network access, roaming and the like of the connected terminal devices by the wireless access points; "end" refers to a terminal device. In an initial state (a) shown in fig. 3), the first wireless access point is connected with the target terminal device 305. Upon determining that the target terminal device 305 satisfies the roaming condition, the first wireless access point 302 transmits a roaming request to the cloud control device 301. The cloud control device 301 selects the second wireless access point 303 as a target wireless access point from the connected second wireless access points according to a network communication protocol and signal strength with the target terminal device, and controls the first wireless access point 302 to disconnect the network connection from the target terminal device 305 and controls the second wireless access point 303 to establish the network connection with the target terminal device 305, as shown in (b) in fig. 3, at this time, it may be considered that the handover of the target terminal device 305 from the first wireless access point 302 to the second wireless access point 303 is completed, that is, the network roaming process is completed.

In one embodiment, the signal strength between the wireless access point and the target terminal device can be determined according to the distance between the wireless access point and the target terminal device and the strength of a signal sent by the signal access point.

Further, taking distance as an example, determining the signal strength between the at least one second access device and the target terminal device includes: determining a spatial distance between the at least one wireless access point and the target terminal device; and determining the signal strength between the at least one wireless access point and the target terminal equipment according to the space distance.

Specifically, a corresponding relationship between the spatial distance and the signal strength may be established, and when the spatial distance is farther, the signal strength is determined to be weaker, and when the spatial distance is closer, the signal strength is determined to be stronger.

In addition, the cloud control device can also acquire the position distribution information of each wireless access point and the target terminal device and the distribution situation of surrounding obstacles (such as buildings and the like), and determine whether the signal is blocked according to the position distribution information and the distribution situation of the obstacles. And then, determining a target wireless access point from the wireless access points according to the shielded condition, the distance and the matching condition of the network communication protocol. For example, according to the position distribution information of each wireless access point and the target terminal device and the distribution situation of the obstacles, a wireless access point which is not shielded by the obstacles is selected from each wireless access point to be used as a candidate wireless access point, and then a wireless access point which has the shortest distance to the target terminal device is selected from the candidate wireless access points to be used as a target wireless access point.

Fig. 4 is a connection diagram of a cloud-pipe-end three-layer architecture in an embodiment, in which a cloud control device 401 is connected to a first wireless access point 402 and second wireless access points 403, 404, and 405. In the initial state (a) shown in fig. 4), the first wireless access point connects the target terminal device 406. Upon determining that the target terminal device 406 satisfies the roaming condition, the first wireless access point 402 sends a roaming request to the cloud control device 401. The cloud control device 401 obtains the position distribution information of each second wireless access point and the target terminal device 406 and the distribution situation of the obstacles, determines that the second wireless access point 403 is blocked by the obstacle 407, and then selects the second wireless access points 404 and 405 which are not blocked by the obstacle from the second wireless access points as candidate wireless access points, selecting a second wireless access point 404 with the shortest distance to the target terminal device from the candidate wireless access points as a target wireless access point, controlling the first wireless access point 402 to disconnect the network connection with the target terminal device 406 and controlling the second wireless access point 404 to establish the network connection with the target terminal device 406, as shown in fig. 4 (b), at this time, it can be considered that the handover of the target terminal device 406 from the first wireless access point 402 to the second wireless access point 404 is completed, i.e., the network roaming process is completed.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises: in response to the roaming request, determining, from the second access device, an access device having a network connection with the target terminal device within a set history time period as a history access device of the target terminal device; and in the historical access equipment of the target terminal equipment, determining the access equipment of which the network communication protocol is matched with the terminal communication protocol and the signal intensity meets the preset condition as the target access equipment.

The set historical time period may be a time period from the current time to the previous time, and may be a time period of the past week, month, year, and the like.

In this embodiment, the cloud control device selects, as the target access device, an access device of which the network communication protocol matches the terminal communication protocol and of which the signal strength satisfies a preset condition, from the historical access devices that establish network connection with the target terminal device. Because the historical access equipment and the target terminal equipment establish network connection, the network communication quality of the historical access equipment and the target terminal equipment is often better, the target access equipment can be quickly selected from the historical access equipment, the network access quality of the target terminal equipment is ensured, and the network roaming efficiency is greatly improved.

Further, the cloud control device may determine the current signal strength between the historical access devices and the target terminal device, and then determine the historical access device with high signal strength as the target access device. Furthermore, the distances between the historical access devices and the target terminal device can be determined, and then the historical access device with the closer distance (the closer distance, the stronger signal strength is likely) is determined as the target access device.

In an embodiment, taking the access device as a wireless access point as an example, the cloud control device may obtain a distance between each second wireless access point and the target terminal device, and use the second wireless access point whose distance is smaller than a set distance threshold (the size of the threshold may be determined according to an actual situation) as a candidate wireless access point. And then determining the network communication protocol of the candidate wireless access points and the signal strength between the candidate wireless access points and the target terminal equipment, and further determining the target wireless access point which is matched with the target terminal equipment from the candidate wireless access points according to the corresponding network communication protocol and the signal strength. By the method, the range of the second wireless access point can be reduced to a certain extent, and the target wireless access point can be quickly determined from the second wireless access points in a small range, so that the roaming efficiency of the target terminal equipment is improved.

In an embodiment, taking the access device as a wireless access point as an example, the cloud control device may further obtain an upper limit of the number of terminal devices connected to each second wireless access point and the number of the current terminal devices connected to each second wireless access point, so as to determine the number of terminal devices accessible to each second wireless access point. After receiving the roaming request, selecting a second wireless access point with the number of the accessible terminal devices not being zero as a candidate wireless access point, then determining the network communication protocol of the candidate wireless access point and the signal strength between the candidate wireless access point and the target terminal device, and determining the target wireless access point from the candidate wireless access points according to the corresponding network communication protocol and the signal strength. The processing mode can ensure the reliability of the determined target wireless access point, so that the target terminal equipment can smoothly establish network connection with the target wireless access point, the situation that network roaming needs to be carried out again when the number of the terminal equipment connected with the target wireless access point is full is prevented, and the network roaming efficiency of the target terminal equipment can be effectively improved.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises: determining terminal equipment connected with the first access equipment and the second access equipment as candidate terminal equipment; determining, in the first access device and the second access device, an access device having network connection with the candidate terminal device within the set history time period as a history access device of the candidate terminal device; determining the contact ratio of the candidate terminal equipment and the historical access equipment corresponding to the target terminal equipment; determining the candidate terminal equipment with the contact ratio higher than a preset contact ratio threshold value as reference terminal equipment; and controlling the target access equipment to establish network connection with the reference terminal equipment.

The candidate terminal device may not include the target terminal device.

The contact ratio of the historical access devices can refer to the ratio of the same historical access device to the total historical access device. The threshold value of the degree of coincidence can be determined according to actual conditions, and is, for example, 85%, 90%, 95%, and the like.

The coincidence degree of the historical access devices of the reference terminal device and the target terminal device is high, and the network communication protocols of the reference terminal device and the target terminal device and the requirements on the signal strength are very likely to be similar, so that the reference terminal device is automatically switched to be connected with the target access device, the corresponding access device is not required to send a roaming request again, and the overall roaming efficiency of the terminal device can be greatly reduced. Further, after the reference terminal device is determined, it may be further determined whether the network communication protocols of the reference terminal device and the target access device are matched and whether the signal strength meets the requirement, and if the network communication protocols are matched and the signal strength meets the requirement, the second target access device may be controlled to establish a network connection with the reference terminal device.

Fig. 5 is a connection diagram of a cloud-pipe-end three-layer architecture in an embodiment, wherein a cloud control device 501 is connected to a first wireless access point 502 and second wireless access points 503 and 504. In the initial state (a) shown in fig. 5), the target terminal device 505 and the terminal device 506 are connected to the first wireless access point, and the terminal device 507 is connected to the second wireless access point 504. Upon determining that the target terminal device 505 satisfies the roaming condition, the first wireless access point 502 sends a roaming request to the cloud control device 501. The cloud control device 501 selects the second wireless access point 503 from the second wireless access points 503 and 504 as a target wireless access point, controls the first wireless access point 502 to disconnect the network connection with the target terminal device 505, and controls the second wireless access point 503 to establish the network connection with the target terminal device 505. Further, to ensure that other terminal devices can perform normal network communication with the access point, the cloud control device 501 determines the terminal devices connected to the first wireless access point 502 and the second wireless access point 503/504, determines the terminal device 506 connected to the first wireless access point 502 and the terminal device 507 connected to the second wireless access point 504 in addition to the target terminal device 505, determines historical wireless access points of the terminal device 506 and the terminal device 507, and further determines that the historical wireless access points of the terminal device 506 and the target terminal device 505 have high overlap ratio, determines the terminal device 506 as a reference terminal device, controls the second wireless access point 503 to establish network connection with the terminal device 506, as shown in (b) in fig. 5, at this time, it can be considered that the handover of the target terminal device 505 and the terminal device 506 from the first wireless access point 502 to the second wireless access point 503 is completed, i.e. the network roaming procedure is completed.

According to the embodiment, after the network roaming of the target terminal device is completed, the network roaming is automatically performed on the terminal device which is similar to the target terminal device, the roaming request does not need to be sent out again by the corresponding access device, the network roaming efficiency of the whole system can be greatly improved, meanwhile, the terminal device is insensitive to the network roaming process, and the use experience of a user on the terminal device can be effectively improved.

In one embodiment, the access device may be connected to the cloud control device in a cascade connection manner. For example: the cloud control equipment is connected with 2 access devices, the 2 access devices are respectively connected with 2 sub-access devices (the types of the sub-access devices and the access devices can be the same, and only the sub-access devices are not directly connected with the cloud control equipment), and the 4 sub-access devices can be respectively connected with corresponding terminal devices. Assuming that a certain sub-access device (which may be understood as the first access device in the foregoing embodiment) determines that a certain terminal device connected to the terminal device meets a roaming condition, a roaming request may be sent to the cloud control device through the cascaded access devices, and at this time, the cloud control device may determine a target access device (which may also be referred to as a target access device if a certain sub-access device is selected) matched with the terminal device from the connected access devices and sub-access devices, so as to implement network roaming of the terminal device. Under the condition that the access devices are cascaded, the number of the access devices is often large, communication between the access devices and the cloud control device can be sequentially achieved through the cascade relation of the access devices, then the target access device is rapidly determined from the access devices connected with the cloud control device, and network roaming of the terminal device is rapidly achieved.

In an embodiment, as shown in fig. 6, a network roaming control method for a terminal device is provided, which is described by taking the method as an example applied to the cloud control device in fig. 1, and includes the following steps:

s601, receiving a roaming request sent by the first wireless access point when the corresponding network communication protocol is not matched with the network communication protocol of the target terminal equipment.

And S602, responding to the roaming request, and selecting candidate wireless access points with network communication protocols matched with the network communication protocol of the target terminal equipment from the at least one second wireless access point.

S603, determining the space distance between the candidate wireless access point and the target terminal equipment, and determining the signal intensity between the candidate wireless access point and the target terminal equipment according to the space distance.

S604, determining the candidate wireless access point with the signal strength higher than the first strength threshold value as a target wireless access point.

S605, controlling the first wireless access point to disconnect the network connection with the target terminal equipment and controlling the target wireless access point to establish the network connection with the target terminal equipment.

And S606, determining the access equipment which has network connection with the target terminal equipment in the set historical time period from the second access equipment as the historical access equipment of the target terminal equipment.

S607, terminal equipment connected with the first wireless access point and each second wireless access point is determined to be candidate terminal equipment.

And S608, determining the wireless access point which has network connection with the candidate terminal equipment in the set historical time period from the first wireless access point and each second wireless access point as the historical wireless access point of the candidate terminal equipment.

S609, determining the contact ratio of the historical wireless access points corresponding to the candidate terminal equipment and the target terminal equipment; and determining the candidate terminal equipment with the contact ratio higher than a preset contact ratio threshold value as the reference terminal equipment.

S610, the reference terminal device is controlled to be disconnected with the originally connected wireless access point, and the target wireless access point is controlled to establish network connection with the reference terminal device.

In the network roaming control method for the terminal device provided in the above embodiment, the cloud control device can automatically select the target wireless access point from the connected wireless access points, so as to ensure that the target terminal device smoothly matches with the target access network, and meanwhile, network roaming is automatically performed for the reference terminal device, and network roaming of the terminal device can be efficiently achieved.

The application also provides an application scenario, and the application scenario applies the network roaming control method of the terminal equipment. Specifically, as shown in fig. 7, the application of the network roaming control method of the terminal device in the application scenario is as follows:

the reference scenario is a cloud-pipe-end three-layer architecture, where a cloud refers to a cloud control device (specifically, may be an agile cloud), a pipe refers to an access device (including AP1 and AP2, fig. 7 shows 2 APs, and more APs may be included in other application scenarios), and an end refers to a target client (i.e., a target terminal device to which the current application is directed, which may be referred to as an STA). The process of implementing network roaming by the three-layer architecture can be as follows:

1. AP1 and AP2 registered with the cloud, respectively. After the registration is completed, the cloud end can establish connection with the two APs, receive information reported by the two APs, and control the two APs.

2. The AP1 and the AP2 report the information of the STAs connected to the AP and the signal quality of the surrounding APs to the cloud, respectively.

3. The target client connects to AP 2.

4. The AP2 sends a roaming request to the cloud when the target client signal is poor.

5. And cloud intelligent judgment, namely determining candidate APs matched with the target client by the network communication protocol from the connected APs, and further judging whether roaming is possible according to signal relations between the candidate APs and between the APs and the target client, for example, if the target AP with high signal strength is determined, judging that roaming is possible, and if the target AP with high signal strength is not obtained, judging that roaming is not possible.

6. Upon determining to be non-roaming, non-roaming alert information is sent to the AP 1.

7. When it is determined that roaming is possible, a disconnection instruction is sent to the AP1 to disconnect the AP1 from the target client, so as to force roaming.

8. The AP1 informs the cloud that the current target client is roaming.

9. When the target AP is AP1, the target client connects to AP 1.

10. The cloud informs the AP2 when roaming is successful to release the target client isolation, and may also connect to the AP2 if the target client signal quality is not good.

In the embodiment, the network roaming of the client is realized through the cloud-pipe-end three-layer architecture, after the cloud concept is introduced, the roaming process can be triggered through the cloud self-service intelligent decision, so that the wireless client is controlled, the roaming switching of the wireless client is realized, the use experience of the network roaming is improved, the combination of new and old technologies is realized, and the network roaming is completely compatible with various different wireless clients.

It should be understood that, although the steps in the above-described flowcharts are shown in order as indicated by the arrows, the steps are not necessarily performed in order as indicated by the arrows. The steps are not performed in the exact order shown and described, and may be performed in other orders, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Moreover, at least a part of the steps in the above-mentioned flowcharts may include a plurality of steps or a plurality of stages, which are not necessarily performed at the same time, but may be performed at different times, and the order of performing the steps or the stages is not necessarily performed in sequence, but may be performed alternately or alternately with other steps or at least a part of the steps or the stages in other steps.

Based on the same idea as the network roaming control method of the terminal device in the above embodiment, the present invention further provides a network roaming control apparatus of the terminal device, which can be used to execute the network roaming control method of the terminal device. For convenience of explanation, in the schematic structural diagram of the embodiment of the network roaming control apparatus of the terminal device, only the part related to the embodiment of the present invention is shown, and those skilled in the art will understand that the illustrated structure does not constitute a limitation to the apparatus, and may include more or less components than those illustrated, or combine some components, or arrange different components.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 8, there is provided a network roaming control apparatus 800 of a terminal device, which may be a part of a computer device by using a software module or a hardware module, or a combination of the two modules, and specifically includes: a roaming request receiving module 801, a signal determining module 802, a connection establishing module 803, and a connection disconnecting module 804, wherein:

a roaming request receiving module 801, configured to receive a roaming request sent by the first access device; the roaming request is sent by the first access equipment when the target terminal equipment is determined to meet roaming conditions; the roaming request carries a terminal communication protocol of the target terminal device.

A signal determining module 802, configured to determine, in response to the roaming request, a network communication protocol of the at least one second access device and a signal strength with the target terminal device.

A connection establishing module 803, configured to control the first access device to disconnect a network connection with the target terminal device when a target access device is selected from the at least one second access device; the target access device is a second access device, the network communication protocol is matched with the terminal communication protocol, and the signal intensity meets a preset condition.

A disconnection module 804, configured to control the target access device to establish a network connection with the target terminal device.

In the network roaming control device of the terminal equipment, the cloud control equipment can automatically select the target access equipment from the connected access equipment so as to ensure that the target terminal equipment is smoothly accessed into the network, and further, the network roaming is efficiently realized.

In one embodiment, the second access device is a wireless access point; the device, still include: the access point selection module is used for selecting candidate wireless access points, matched with the network communication protocol and the terminal communication protocol, from at least one wireless access point; and the access equipment determining module is used for determining the candidate wireless access points with the signal strength higher than the first strength threshold value as the target access equipment.

In one embodiment, a signal determination module includes: a spatial distance determination submodule for determining a spatial distance between the at least one wireless access point and the target terminal device; and the signal strength determining submodule is used for determining the signal strength between the at least one wireless access point and the target terminal equipment according to the space distance.

In one embodiment, the roaming request receiving module includes: and receiving a roaming request sent by the first access equipment when the signal strength between the first access equipment and the target terminal equipment is smaller than a second strength threshold value.

In one embodiment, the roaming request receiving module further includes: and receiving a roaming request sent by the first access equipment when the corresponding network communication protocol is not matched with the terminal communication protocol.

In one embodiment, the apparatus further comprises: a connection maintaining module, configured to send a roaming failure notification message to the first access device when the target access device is not selected from the at least one second access device, so that the first access device maintains a network connection with the target terminal device.

In one embodiment, the apparatus further comprises: a first history device determining module, configured to determine, in response to the roaming request, an access device that has a network connection with the target terminal device within a set history period from the second access device, as a history access device of the target terminal device; and the target equipment determining module is used for determining the access equipment, of which the network communication protocol is matched with the terminal communication protocol and the signal strength meets the preset condition, as the target access equipment in the historical access equipment of the target terminal equipment.

In one embodiment, the apparatus further comprises: a terminal device determining module, configured to determine, as candidate terminal devices, terminal devices to which the first access device and the second access device are connected; a second history device determining module, configured to determine, in the first access device and the second access device, an access device that has network connection with the candidate terminal device within the set history time period, as a history access device of the candidate terminal device; the contact ratio determining module is used for determining the contact ratio of the candidate terminal equipment and the historical access equipment corresponding to the target terminal equipment; the reference equipment determining module is used for determining the candidate terminal equipment with the contact ratio higher than a preset contact ratio threshold value as the reference terminal equipment; and the network connection module is used for controlling the target access equipment to establish network connection with the reference terminal equipment.

For specific limitations of the network roaming control apparatus of the terminal device, reference may be made to the above limitations of the network roaming control method of the terminal device, and details are not described herein again. All or part of each module in the network roaming control device of the terminal equipment can be realized by software, hardware and a combination thereof. The modules can be embedded in a hardware form or independent from a processor in the computer device, and can also be stored in a memory in the computer device in a software form, so that the processor can call and execute operations corresponding to the modules.

In one embodiment, a cloud control device is provided, and the cloud control device may be a server, and an internal structure diagram of the cloud control device may be as shown in fig. 9. The cloud control device comprises a processor, a memory and a network interface which are connected through a system bus. The processor of the cloud control device is used for providing computing and control capacity. The memory of the cloud control device comprises a nonvolatile storage medium and an internal memory. The non-volatile storage medium stores an operating system, a computer program, and a database. The internal memory provides an environment for the operation of an operating system and computer programs in the non-volatile storage medium. The database of the cloud control device is used for storing data such as a terminal communication protocol, a network communication protocol and signal intensity. The network interface of the cloud control device is used for being connected and communicated with an external terminal through a network. The computer program is executed by a processor to implement a network roaming control method of a terminal device.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the architecture shown in fig. 9 is merely a block diagram of some of the structures associated with the disclosed aspects and is not intended to limit the computing devices to which the disclosed aspects apply, as particular computing devices may include more or less components than those shown, or may combine certain components, or have a different arrangement of components.

In an embodiment, a cloud control device is further provided, which includes a memory and a processor, where the memory stores a computer program, and the processor executes the computer program to implement the steps in the foregoing method embodiments.

In an embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which a computer program is stored which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the steps of the above-mentioned method embodiments.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the processes of the methods of the embodiments described above can be implemented by hardware instructions of a computer program, which can be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, can include the processes of the embodiments of the methods described above. Any reference to memory, storage, database or other medium used in the embodiments provided herein can include at least one of non-volatile and volatile memory. Non-volatile Memory may include Read-Only Memory (ROM), magnetic tape, floppy disk, flash Memory, optical storage, or the like. Volatile Memory can include Random Access Memory (RAM) or external cache Memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM can take many forms, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) or Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), among others.

The technical features of the above embodiments can be arbitrarily combined, and for the sake of brevity, all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are not described, but should be considered as the scope of the present specification as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features.

The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present application, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the concept of the present application, which falls within the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.

Claims (10)

1. The network roaming control method of the terminal device is applied to a cloud control device, the cloud control device is connected with a first access device and at least one second access device, the first access device is connected with a target terminal device, and the method comprises the following steps:

receiving a roaming request sent by the first access equipment; the roaming request is sent by the first access equipment when the target terminal equipment is determined to meet roaming conditions; the roaming request carries a terminal communication protocol of the target terminal equipment;

determining a network communication protocol of the at least one second access device and a signal strength between the target terminal device and the at least one second access device in response to the roaming request;

when a target access device is selected from the at least one second access device, controlling the first access device to disconnect the network connection with the target terminal device; the target access device is a second access device, the network communication protocol is matched with the terminal communication protocol, and the signal intensity meets a preset condition;

and controlling the target access equipment to establish network connection with the target terminal equipment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second access device is a wireless access point; the method further comprises the following steps:

selecting a candidate wireless access point of the at least one wireless access point, wherein the network communication protocol is matched with the terminal communication protocol;

and determining the candidate wireless access points with the signal strength higher than a first strength threshold value as the target access equipment.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the signal strength between the at least one second access device and the target terminal device comprises:

determining a spatial distance between the at least one wireless access point and the target terminal device;

and determining the signal strength between the at least one wireless access point and the target terminal equipment according to the space distance.

4. The method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the receiving the roaming request sent by the first access device comprises:

receiving a roaming request sent by the first access equipment when the signal strength between the first access equipment and the target terminal equipment is smaller than a second strength threshold value;

and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

and receiving a roaming request sent by the first access equipment when the corresponding network communication protocol is not matched with the terminal communication protocol.

5. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising:

and when the target access equipment is not selected from the at least one second access equipment, sending roaming failure prompt information to the first access equipment so that the first access equipment maintains network connection with the target terminal equipment.

6. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising:

in response to the roaming request, determining, from the second access device, an access device having a network connection with the target terminal device within a set history time period as a history access device of the target terminal device;

and in the historical access equipment of the target terminal equipment, determining the access equipment of which the network communication protocol is matched with the terminal communication protocol and the signal intensity meets the preset condition as the target access equipment.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining terminal equipment connected with the first access equipment and the second access equipment as candidate terminal equipment;

determining, in the first access device and the second access device, an access device having network connection with the candidate terminal device within the set history time period as a history access device of the candidate terminal device;

determining the contact ratio of the candidate terminal equipment and the historical access equipment corresponding to the target terminal equipment;

determining the candidate terminal equipment with the contact ratio higher than a preset contact ratio threshold value as reference terminal equipment;

and controlling the target access equipment to establish network connection with the reference terminal equipment.

8. The utility model provides a terminal equipment's network roaming controlling means, its characterized in that is applied to high in the clouds controlgear, high in the clouds controlgear is connected with first access equipment and at least one second access equipment, first access equipment is connected with target terminal equipment, the device includes:

a roaming request receiving module, configured to receive a roaming request sent by the first access device; the roaming request is sent by the first access equipment when the target terminal equipment is determined to meet roaming conditions; the roaming request carries a terminal communication protocol of the target terminal equipment;

a signal determination module, configured to determine, in response to the roaming request, a network communication protocol of the at least one second access device and a signal strength with the target terminal device;

a connection establishing module, configured to control the first access device to disconnect a network connection with the target terminal device when a target access device is selected from the at least one second access device; the target access device is a second access device, the network communication protocol is matched with the terminal communication protocol, and the signal intensity meets a preset condition;

and the connection disconnection module is used for controlling the target access equipment to establish network connection with the target terminal equipment.

9. Cloud control device, the cloud control device being connected to a first access device and at least one second access device, the first access device being connected to a target terminal device, the cloud control device comprising a memory and a processor, the memory storing a computer program, wherein the processor implements the steps of the method of any of claims 1 to 7 when executing the computer program.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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