JP2000259295A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve communication quality by preventing influence by multipath and noise, etc., to the utmost. SOLUTION: This information processor is constituted by mounting a radio communication function and constituted so as to perform communication by selecting a directional antenna with the highest receiving sensitivity from a communicating party among plural directional antennas 12a, b, c,... by providing plural directional antennas 12a, b, c,... to have directivity in mutually different directions centering around a casing 11 of tbe information processor 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus having a wireless communication function. 2. Description of the Related Art Nowadays, personal computers have become widespread, and spread-type information processing apparatuses represented by so-called notebook personal computers have been spreading because of their space-saving advantages. Further, since a plurality of information processing apparatuses are used in one office or home, a LAN
Networking using such as is progressing.

[0002] Networking of an information processing apparatus may be performed by wire or wirelessly. In the case of wireless communication, the propagation state of radio waves is easily changed depending on the environment and is easily affected by noise, so that the communication quality and stability are inferior to those of wired communication. However, a notebook personal computer has never been used wirelessly to take advantage of its portability. Therefore, there is a demand for a notebook computer capable of performing high-quality and stable communication by radio.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 7 and 8 show a conventional information processing apparatus 80.
FIG. In FIG. 7, the information processing device 80
Various components are attached to the inside and the surface of a housing 81 including a main body 82 and a cover body 83. Cover body 8
3 is rotatably connected to the surface of the main body 82. The information processing device 80 is a so-called spread-type notebook personal computer.

The information processing device 80 has a radio communication device mounted therein, and transmits radio waves by a whip antenna 84 provided on a side surface of a main body 82 and receives radio waves from a partner (partner station). .

[0005] The information processing apparatus 80a shown in FIG. 8 has a planar array antenna 85 mounted on the upper surface of a cover body 83a. The planar array antenna 85 has unidirectionality, and has a sharp beam pattern BP in one direction as shown in the drawing. In the information processing device 80a, the planar array antenna 85 is arranged and used so that the maximum direction of the directivity thereof is directed to the communication partner.

[0006]

In the former information processing apparatus 80 described above, the whip antenna 84 is omnidirectional, so that the information processing apparatus 80 can be used in a building or in a valley of a building. Has a so-called multipath problem that radio waves are received from a plurality of paths and interfere with each other. In addition, there is a problem that the radio wave radiated from the information processing device 80 itself is received by the whip antenna 84, which appears as noise and deteriorates communication quality.

In the latter information processing apparatus 80a, in order to direct the beam of the planar array antenna 85 toward the other party, the user must always know the position of the other party. However, it is very difficult in practice, except when used in a particular location and communicating with a particular party. Also, even if you know the position of the other party,
Since the radio wave has reflection, it is not known whether the direction of the position of the other party is the direction of the maximum sensitivity.

When the other party moves, it is even more difficult to specify the direction. Further, even when the position of the other party is known, it is extremely troublesome to change the arrangement of the information processing device 80a in order to match the orientation of the planar array antenna 85 to it.

As described above, conventionally, when the antenna is made omnidirectional, the communication quality is deteriorated due to multipath and noise, and when the antenna is made directional, it is practical to utilize the directivity. There was a problem that it was difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide an information processing apparatus capable of minimizing the effects of multipath, noise, and the like and improving communication quality. I do.

[0011]

An apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is an information processing apparatus 1 having a wireless communication function as shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, wherein a plurality of directional antennas 1 are provided.
2 are provided so as to have directivities in directions different from each other around the housing 11 of the information processing apparatus 1,
The directional antenna 12 is configured to select a directional antenna having the highest reception sensitivity from a communication partner from among the plurality of directional antennas 12 to perform communication.

In the device according to the second aspect of the present invention, the directional antenna 12 is a slot antenna provided on a side surface of the housing 11 and having one-way radiation characteristics. The device according to the third aspect of the present invention includes the storage unit 32 for storing which of the plurality of directional antennas 12 is the directional antenna having the highest reception sensitivity from the communication partner, and at the time of transmission, The directional antenna stored in the storage means 32 is selected and transmitted.

In the apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the housing 11 includes a main body 21 and a cover 22 rotatably attached to the main body 21.
Is open, the metal surface 13 c provided on the main body 21 and the metal surface 13 provided on the cover body 22.
b, and a corner reflector antenna 13 composed of a dipole antenna 13a attached to the boundary between the main body 21 and the cover body 22.

In the apparatus according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the directional antenna 12 and the corner reflector antenna 13
Are selectively switched to perform communication.

The apparatus according to the sixth aspect of the present invention is provided with a display surface 23 for displaying information on a direction having the highest receiving sensitivity based on the receiving sensitivity of a plurality of directional antennas 12 from a communication partner.

[0016]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an external appearance of an information processing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed obliquely from the front, FIG. FIG.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion of the slot antenna 12, and FIG.
FIG. 5 is an enlarged view showing a part of the corner reflector antenna 13, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a part of a circuit of the information processing apparatus 1, and FIG. 6 is a reception state displayed on the communication state display panel 23 of the information processing apparatus 1. It is a figure showing an example of screen HG1.

In FIG. 1 and FIG.
Is configured such that various parts are attached to the inside and the surface of the housing 11 composed of the main body 21 and the cover body 22. The cover body 22 is rotatably connected to the upper surface of the main body 21. These main body 21 and cover body 22
Is manufactured by molding a synthetic resin, for example. The display body HG is provided on the cover body 22. A communication status display panel 23 is provided at a corner of the main body 21. The information processing device 1 is, for example, a so-called spread notebook computer. The basic structure and function of the information processing device 1 itself are known.

The main body 21 is provided with two slot antennas 12a, b, c,... Having one-way radiation characteristics on each side surface. Each slot antenna 12a, b,
c ... have the same structure, and have directivity in the respective opening directions. Therefore, each side surface of the main body 21 has directivity toward the outside centering on the main body 21. All or some of the slot antennas 12a, b, c,...

Referring also to FIG.
Is a metal plate 121 having a rectangular opening 123 in the center,
And, it has a box 122 connected to the metal plate 121 at the opening 123. Metal plate 121 and box part 12
2 is made of, for example, an aluminum plate, an aluminum plate, a copper plate, a copper plate, or another metal material.

The length L1 of the opening 123 is 2 times the transmission frequency.
1/4 wavelength, depth L2 is 1/4 wavelength, width L3 is 1c
m. The frequency of the transmission wave or reception wave is, for example, 2G
Hz, the wavelength λ is about 15 cm,
Length L1 is about 7.5cm, Depth L2 is about 3.75cm
Becomes The center of the edge of the opening 123 is the feeding point KDP.
Power is supplied by, for example, a coaxial cable.
The box 122 prevents the radio wave from entering the back,
Emit radio waves only to the outside. The structure and function of the slot antenna 12 itself are known.

Referring also to FIG. 4, corner reflector antenna 13 is attached to the upper surface of main body 21 and the upper surface of cover body 22. The corner reflector antenna 13 includes a dipole antenna 13a attached to a boundary portion between the main body 21 and the cover body 22, a metal plate 13b provided on the surface of the cover body 22, and a metal plate 13c provided on the surface of the main body 21. Become. Metal plate 13b, 13
c is made of an aluminum plate, an aluminum sheet, or another metal material, like the metal plate 121 and the like. The corner reflector antenna 13 has high gain directivity of about 6 to 9 dB in a direction of an acute angle formed by the main body 21 and the cover body 22.

As shown in FIG. 5, inside the main body 21,
An antenna selector 31, a memory 32, a modem 33 which is a wireless communication device, and a CPU and other peripheral elements and peripheral devices (not shown) are provided.

At the time of reception and at the time of transmission, the antenna selector 31 selects the slot antenna 1 having the highest reception sensitivity from the communication partner among all the slot antennas 12.
Select 2. In that case, one or more slot antennas 12 are selected. For example, two slot antennas 12 provided on the same side of the main body 21 are usually selected simultaneously. If the sensitivity of the slot antennas 12 provided on two adjacent side surfaces is the same and higher than the other, the plurality of slot antennas 12
Are selected.

When selecting the slot antenna 12 according to the setting of the antenna mode, the corner reflector antenna 13 can be added to the selection. In that case, the antenna with the highest reception sensitivity is selected from all the slot antennas 12 and the corner reflector antennas 13. When the corner reflector antenna 13 is selected, the slot antenna 12 provided on the surface is usually selected at the same time.

The check for selecting such an antenna is performed as follows. That is, first, the reception sensitivities of all slot antennas 12 and corner reflector antennas 13 are measured, and the data of the respective reception sensitivities are stored in the area of the memory 32. And
The antenna with the highest sensitivity among them is determined, and the determination result is stored in another area of the memory 32. The antenna with the highest sensitivity is selected by the antenna selector 31 based on the contents stored in the memory 32. Transmission and reception are performed using the selected antenna.

Further, based on the contents stored in the memory 32,
As shown in FIG. 6, a reception status screen HG1 is displayed on the communication status display panel 23. Reception status screen HG shown in FIG.
In 1, a triangle mark is displayed at a position corresponding to each side surface.
The triangle with the highest sensitivity is highlighted. Also, depending on the sensitivity of the antenna on each side, the density of the triangle mark,
It is also possible to change the color, size, etc. It is also possible to display the sensitivity numerically.

The user looks at the reception status screen HG1 of the communication status display panel 23 and sees the corner reflector antenna 13
Of the information processing apparatus 1 can be changed so that the information is directed to the direction with the highest sensitivity. In such a case, the state of sensitivity of each antenna changes, and, for example, the corner reflector antenna 13 having the highest sensitivity is selected.

The reception sensitivity check by the antenna selector 31 can be performed at various timings. As such a timing, for example, when the information processing apparatus 1 is about to start communication,
Various modes can be set, such as when an appropriate time has elapsed from the previous check during communication, when the communication state has deteriorated during communication, or when the information processing apparatus 1 has been moved.

According to the above-described embodiment, one or more antennas having the highest sensitivity are selected from the slot antenna 12 and the corner reflector antenna 13 having directivity. The influence can be suppressed, and the communication quality can be improved. In addition, the reception status in each direction is displayed on the reception status screen HG.
Since it is displayed as 1, by pointing the corner reflector antenna 13 in that direction, the sensitivity is further increased and the communication quality is improved.

As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, even if the position of the communication partner is in any direction and the direction of the other party is shifted from the direction of high sensitivity due to the reflection of radio waves, Communication can be performed with optimum sensitivity.

In the embodiment described above, two slot antennas 12 are provided on each side surface, but one or three or more slot antennas 12 may be provided. One corner reflector antenna 13
Although two are provided, two or more may be provided. Instead of the slot antenna 12, another directional antenna may be used.
Dipole antenna 1 of corner reflector antenna 13
A half wavelength, one wavelength, or another wavelength can be used as 3a.

In the embodiment described above, the cover 2
The reception state screen HG1 may be displayed on a part of the display surface HG of No. 2. In addition, a main body 21, a cover body 22,
Or the structure, shape, size, number, material, circuit, processing content or processing order of the whole or each part of the information processing apparatus 1 are as follows:
It can be changed appropriately according to the spirit of the present invention.

[0033]

According to the present invention, the effects of multipath and noise can be prevented as much as possible, and the communication quality can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed obliquely from the front.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the information processing apparatus as viewed obliquely from behind.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of a slot antenna.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a corner reflector antenna.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a part of a circuit of the information processing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a reception status screen displayed on a communication status display panel of the information processing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a side view of a conventional information processing apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a side view of a conventional information processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information processing apparatus 11 Housing 12 Slot antenna (directional antenna) 13 Corner reflector antenna 13a Dipole antenna 13b Metal plate (metal surface) 13c Metal plate (metal surface) 21 Main body 22 Cover body 23 Communication state display panel (display surface) 31 antenna selector 32 memory (storage means) 33 modem (wireless communication device) HG display surface

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5J021 AA05 AA06 AB03 AB05 BA01 CA02 CA06 DB04 FA30 FA31 GA02 HA05 JA01 5K059 CC03 CC04 DD02 DD10 DD27

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An information processing device having a wireless communication function, wherein a plurality of directional antennas are provided so as to have directivities in directions different from each other around a housing of the information processing device. An information processing apparatus configured to perform communication by selecting a directional antenna having the highest reception sensitivity from a communication partner from among the plurality of directional antennas. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said directional antenna is a slot antenna having a one-way radiation characteristic provided on a side surface of said housing. 3. A storage means for storing which one of a plurality of directional antennas has the highest sensitivity of reception from a communication partner, and said directional antenna is stored in said storage means during transmission. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is configured to select and transmit a directional antenna. 4. The housing comprises a main body, and a cover body rotatably mounted on the main body. When the cover body is open, a metal surface provided on the main body, the cover body 4. The corner reflector antenna according to claim 1, further comprising: a metal surface provided on the base member; and a corner reflector antenna configured by a dipole antenna attached to a boundary between the main body and the cover body. 5. Information processing device. 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein communication is performed by selectively switching between said directional antenna and said corner reflector antenna. 6. The display device according to claim 1, further comprising a display surface for displaying information on a direction having the highest reception sensitivity based on reception sensitivities from a communication partner by a plurality of directional antennas. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1.