JP2001148645A - Antenna diversity radio system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the reliability of the communication in a radio system for performing antenna diversity. SOLUTION: Radio equipment for performing the antenna diversity is provided with radio reception means 3 and 4 for receiving radio signals by two or more antennas 1 and 2, a radio transmission means 11 for transmitting signals by using one of the antennas 1 and 2, a signal analysis means 22a for analyzing the contents of the signals received in the radio reception means 3 and 4 and a transmission antenna decision means 12 for deciding the transmission antennas 1 and 2 based on the result of analysis by the signal analysis means 22a. The signal analysis means 22a is provided with a level judgment means 7 for judging the strength of the signals received by the radio reception means 3 and 4 and the transmission antenna decision means 12 decides the transmission antennas 1 and 2 based on the result of judgment by the level judgment means 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric appliance installed inside or outside a home or a wireless slave unit installed or built in a household equipment unit, and a wireless unit installed inside or outside the home for grasping the operation status of each device and for urgent operation. The present invention relates to a system including a wireless master device installed or built in an information collecting device for relaying or transmitting information, wherein at least one of the wireless devices has a plurality of antennas and performs antenna diversity.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the amount of fuel gas used, such as city gas or propane gas, has been measured by a gas meter, and meter readers have toured each house to check the meter by checking the gas meter. However, the conventional method in which meter readers visually check the gas meter requires a large number of people, and there is a high possibility of misidentifying the amount used, so recently meter readings are transmitted to the center using a public line. A technology to do this has been proposed. Furthermore, connecting each gas meter to the public line with a wired connection is cumbersome for the construction work, so connect the network control device master unit connected to the public line and the slave unit to the gas meter, and connect with the master unit. It has been considered that data is exchanged wirelessly between slave units. That is, in order to check the gas usage, the center calls the wireless slave via the wireless master, and the slave returns the measured value of the gas meter to the master by wireless and transmits it to the center.

[0003]

However, in the above system, if the distance between the master unit and the slave unit is short, the disturbance generated between the master unit and the slave unit is very small, which adversely affects signal transmission and reception. It is unlikely that, when the distance between the master unit and the slave unit increases, the possibility of intervening disturbance conditions between the master unit and the slave unit increases, which may adversely affect signal transmission and reception. . In general, the number of slaves is as many as the number of meters, so that the number of slaves is large, whereas the number of masters is only one for many slaves. Therefore, taking measures for the master unit to reliably transmit and receive signals to the slave unit can improve the reliability of the system,
In addition, the cost of the system hardly increases if only measures are taken for the master unit.

[0004] The present invention has been developed to provide a system for promptly and definitely reading meter readings by wirelessly using a wireless meter, which has conventionally been done by a meter reader visually checking around each customer. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to improve communication reliability of an antenna diversity wireless system.

[0005]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, at least two or more fixedly installed radios communicate with each other and at least one radio has two or more antennas and an antenna diver. In a wireless system that performs antenna diversity, a wireless device that performs antenna diversity includes wireless receiving means for receiving a wireless signal with two or more antennas, wireless transmitting means for transmitting a signal using any one of the antennas, It is characterized by having signal analyzing means for analyzing the content of a signal received by the wireless receiving means, and transmitting antenna determining means for determining a transmitting antenna based on the result of analysis by the signal analyzing means.

The signal analyzing means has a level determining means for determining the strength of the signal received by the radio receiving means and a control signal, and the transmitting antenna determining means determines a transmitting antenna based on a result determined by the level determining means. It is preferable that the level determining means be configured to determine the level.
If the strength of the received signal is determined at the start of signal reception, during signal reception, or at the end of signal reception, there is an advantage in each case.

The signal analyzing means may be configured to detect the strength of the received signal and an error in the received signal being received so far, and to determine the transmitting antenna based on the result of the calculation. Level determining means for determining the strength of a signal received by the receiving means, and one of information received from two or more antennas determined as received information based on the signal strength information determined by the level determining means during signal reception Receiving information selecting means, and receiving information use number storing means for storing the number of times of receiving information determination by the receiving information selecting means for each antenna, and the transmitting antenna determining means is stored in the receiving information use number storing means. It is preferable that the transmission antenna is determined based on the number of times of use of the reception information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a radio system in which at least two or more fixedly installed radios communicate with each other and at least one radio includes two or more antennas to perform antenna diversity. A wireless device that performs diversity transmits a signal using one of the antennas, a position information storage unit that stores position information of another wireless device, a wireless receiving unit that receives a wireless signal with two or more antennas, It is characterized by having wireless transmission means and transmission antenna determination means for determining a transmission antenna based on the position information stored in the position information storage means.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention further provides a radio system in which at least two or more fixedly installed radios communicate with each other and at least one radio has two or more antennas and performs antenna diversity. A wireless device that performs diversity includes a wireless receiving unit that receives a wireless signal using two or more antennas, a wireless device transmitting unit that transmits a signal using any one of the antennas, and a wireless device that receives a signal received by the wireless device receiving unit. A position estimating means for estimating the position of the partner wireless device by strength, and a transmitting antenna determining means for determining a transmitting antenna based on the position of the partner wireless device assumed by the position estimating device.

In the above invention, there is provided a level determining means for analyzing the strength of a signal received by a wireless receiving means for receiving a wireless signal with two or more antennas, and a position estimating means. It is preferable that the position of the partner wireless device be assumed from the level.

[0011]

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

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a wireless gas metering system to which the antenna diversity wireless system of the present invention is applied. This system is bidirectional between a remote monitoring center and a fixed station wireless base unit 15 connected by wire through a telephone line and a fixed station wireless remote unit 16, 17, 18 connected to a microcomputer gas meter installed at each dwelling unit by wire. Wireless communication to collect meter reading information from a microcomputer gas meter in accordance with a center instruction, to detect a malfunction by monitoring a gas meter valve, monitor a gas meter flow rate, and read and monitor a notification call for valve control information.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a wireless device (master device) for performing antenna diversity. In FIG. 2, 1,
2 is an antenna. In the first embodiment, a two-branch space diversity having two antennas is provided. 3 is a wireless receiving means A. 4 is a wireless receiving means B. Reference numeral 5 denotes demodulation means A. Reference numeral 6 denotes demodulation means B.
Reference numeral 7 denotes a level determination unit. Reference numeral 8 denotes a reception information selection unit. 9 is a control unit. Reference numeral 10 denotes a modulation unit. Reference numeral 11 denotes a wireless transmission unit. Reference numeral 12 denotes a transmitting antenna determining unit. Demodulation means A5, demodulation means B6, level determination means 7,
The reception information selection unit 8, the control unit 9, and the modulation unit 10 constitute a signal analysis unit 22a of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the operation for receiving a signal will be described first. The master unit receives signals from the slave units via antennas 1 and 2. The signal received by antenna 1 is received by wireless receiving means A3, and the signal received by antenna 2 is received by wireless receiving means B4. Here, the wireless receiving unit A3 sends the received signal to the demodulating unit A5, measures the electric field strength of the received signal, and sends the measurement result to the level determining unit 7. On the other hand, the wireless receiving means B4 also sends the received signal to the demodulating means B6, measures the electric field strength of the received signal, and sends the measurement result to the level determining means 7. Here, the radio receiving means A3 and the radio receiving means B4 constantly measure the electric field strength repeatedly after the existence of the received signal is confirmed until the received signal disappears. The demodulation means A5 and the demodulation means B6 demodulate the signals received by the radio reception means A3 and the radio reception means B4, respectively, and output them to the reception information selection means 8 as baseband data. The level determining means 7 compares the electric field strength measured by the wireless receiving means A3 and the electric field strength measured by the wireless receiving means B4, and outputs the result to the reception information selecting means 8.
The reception information selection unit 8 outputs to the control unit 9 the data with the larger electric field strength among the reception data sent from the demodulation units A5 and B6 based on the determination result from the level determination unit 7. That is, the reception information selecting means 8 does not switch between the antennas 1 and 2 which are the antennas that actually receive the signal, but switches which of the demodulated data is valid. This is called a combined reception method. The control unit 9 captures the data of the reception system selected by the reception information selection unit 8 and analyzes the contents of the data. Here, the control unit 9 is usually constituted by a microcomputer.

Next, the operation for transmitting a signal will be described. The control unit 9 creates transmission data and modulates the
Output to The modulation unit 10 modulates the transmission data sent from the control unit 9 and sends the data to the wireless transmission unit 11. The wireless transmission means 11 transmits the signal modulated by the modulation means 10. The transmission is transmitted from antenna 1 or antenna 2. Here, which of the antenna 1 and the antenna 2 to transmit a signal is determined by the transmission antenna determining means 12. The transmitting antenna determining means 12 determines the transmitting antenna based on the information from the receiving information selecting means 8. That is, the reception information selection unit 8 outputs to the transmission antenna determination unit 12 information on which data from the demodulation unit A5 or the demodulation unit B6 has been sent to the control unit 9 during reception. Based on this information from the reception information selection means 8, the transmission antenna determination means 12 determines the antennas 1 and 2 for transmitting the transmission signal transmitted from the wireless transmission means 11 as the antennas on the side from which the reception information was obtained.

As described above, transmission and reception of signals are performed. According to this method, while receiving signals, the reception information selecting means 8
Can switch the receiving system, so that a receiving system with a large electric field strength can always be received. This means that a system that always copes with fluctuations in the received electric field strength due to various fadings is established. In addition, the reception information selection means 8 switches which of the demodulated data is valid rather than switching between the antennas 1 and 2 which are the antennas that actually receive the signal. Is also possible. Note that the level determination means 7, the reception information selection means 8, and the transmission antenna determination means 12 can be constituted by a microcomputer, similarly to the control unit 9. In this case, the control unit 9 can be referred to as including the level determination unit 7, the reception information selection unit 8, and the transmission antenna determination unit 12.

On the other hand, the radio receiving means A3 and the radio receiving means B4 do not always repeatedly measure the electric field strength until the reception signal disappears after the existence of the reception signal is confirmed.
There is also a method of measuring the electric field intensity only when the presence of the received signal is confirmed. In the case of this method, the level judging means 7 compares the magnitude of the electric field intensity measured by the radio receiving means A3 and the radio receiving means B4 at the time when the presence of the received signal is confirmed, and outputs the result to the reception information selecting means 8. I do. Based on the result, the reception information selection unit 8 outputs to the control unit 9 the data having the larger electric field strength among the reception data sent from the demodulation units A5 and B6. in this way,
Since the electric field strength is measured only at the radio receiving means A3 and the radio receiving means B41 degrees, the reception information selecting means 8 also switches the receiving system only once. That is, when the existence of the received signal is confirmed, the measuring system to be received is determined, and the transmitting antenna determined by the transmitting antenna determining means 12 is also determined.

According to this method, it is not necessary to switch the receiving system when the actual received data is input to the control unit 9. That is, the wireless receiving means A3 and the wireless receiving means B
Reference numeral 4 terminates the measurement of the electric field strength, outputs the result to the level determination means 7, and then outputs the received signal to the demodulation means A5 or B6. That is, when the reception information selection unit 8 switches the reception system only once, no reception data has been sent from the demodulation unit A5 or the demodulation unit B6. After the reception information selecting means 8 switches the reception system, the reception data is sent. As a result, the switching of the receiving system is not performed during the input of the received data, so that there is no fear of switching noise.

Further, the following method is also conceivable.
That is, the wireless receiving means A3 and the wireless receiving means B4 constantly measure the electric field strength repeatedly after the existence of the received signal is confirmed until the received signal disappears. That is, at the time of reception, the reception information selection means 8 switches the reception system even during data input. However, the information output by the receiving information selecting means 8 to determine the transmitting antenna to the transmitting antenna determining means 12 is based on the electric field strength measured by the wireless receiving means A3 and B4 when the presence of the received signal is confirmed. Only the result of the comparison by the judging means 7 is taken. That is,
The antenna at the time of transmission is determined by the magnitude of the electric field strength at the time of starting the previous reception.

According to this method, the time interval between the measurement of the electric field strength at the two antennas and the actual transmission of the transmission signal from the antenna determined based on the measurement result is longer than the reception data length. It will be. Assuming that the received data length is about 20 seconds, a signal is actually transmitted at least 20 seconds after the electric field strength is measured. here,
Even if the electric field intensity drops for several seconds (median value fluctuation) due to fading after the electric field intensity measurement time, the level at the electric field intensity measurement time point because there is an interval of 20 seconds or more before the signal is actually transmitted It is likely to recover up to. The median value fluctuation of the electric field strength occurs when a moving object moves behind a building at a mobile station. In fixed station communication such as an automatic gas meter reading system, a situation occurs in which a main radio wave propagation path is interrupted due to a person stopping around a wireless device. Therefore, it is effective in a wireless system in a home where people come and go.

Further, the following method is also conceivable.
That is, the wireless receiving means A3 and the wireless receiving means B4 constantly measure the electric field strength repeatedly after the existence of the received signal is confirmed until the received signal disappears. That is, at the time of reception, the reception information selection means 8 switches the reception system even during data input. However, the information output by the reception information selection means 8 to determine the transmission antenna to the transmission antenna determination means 12 is immediately before all the actual reception data is taken into the control unit 9, that is, the information received by the radio reception means A3 and the radio reception means B4 is received. Only the result of comparison of the electric field intensity measured at the end of the time by the level determination means 7 is taken. That is, the antenna at the time of transmission is determined by the magnitude of the electric field strength at the time of the end of the previous reception.

According to this method, the time interval between the measurement of the electric field strength at the two antennas and the actual transmission of the transmission signal from the antenna determined based on the measurement result is the same as the above-described “transmission”. The antenna at the time is determined by the magnitude of the electric field strength at the start of the previous reception. " Here, the reception power of the antenna 1 of the two antennas of the master unit caused a drop in the electric field strength (median value fluctuation) over several seconds due to fading, and the drop overlapped the measurement timing of the electric field strength at the end of reception. In this case, the measurement result of the electric field strength at the end of data reception in the receiving system on the antenna 1 side is small. At this time,
If the measurement result of the electric field strength at the end of data reception in the receiving system on the antenna 2 side, which is the other antenna, has a large value, the information output by the reception information selection unit 8 to the transmission antenna determination unit 12 is “ Select antenna 2 ". At the time when the transmitting antenna determining means 12 determines the transmitting antenna to be the antenna 2 and the signal transmission actually starts, the time is short after the receiving information selecting means 8 makes the determination by comparing the electric field strengths, so There is a high possibility that the electric field strength of the antenna 2 remains large while the electric field strength remains low. That is, in such a case, it is possible to determine the transmitting antenna with an accurate determination.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a wireless device (master device) for performing antenna diversity according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, reference numerals 1 and 2 denote antennas. In this embodiment, a two-branch space diversity having two antennas is provided. 3 is a wireless receiving means A. 4 is a wireless receiving means B. Reference numeral 5 denotes demodulation means A. Reference numeral 6 denotes demodulation means B. 9 is a control unit. Reference numeral 10 denotes a modulation unit. Reference numeral 11 denotes a wireless transmission unit. Reference numeral 12 denotes a transmitting antenna determining unit. 13 is an error detecting means. The demodulation unit A5, the demodulation unit B6, the error detection unit 13, the control unit 9, and the modulation unit 10 constitute a signal analysis unit 22b of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, an operation for receiving a signal will be described first. The master unit receives signals from the slave units via antennas 1 and 2. The signal received by antenna 1 is received by wireless receiving means A3, and the signal received by antenna 2 is received by wireless receiving means B4. Here, the wireless receiving unit A3 sends the received signal to the demodulating unit A5. on the other hand,
The wireless receiving means B4 also sends the received signal to the demodulating means B6. The demodulation means A5 and the demodulation means B6 demodulate the signals received by the radio reception means A3 and the radio reception means B4, respectively, and output them to the error detection means 13 as baseband data. The error detection means 13 detects errors in both the data sent from the demodulation means A5 and the data sent from the demodulation means B6. As a result, the error detector outputs the data with the smaller error to the control unit 9. The control unit 9 captures the data of the receiving system selected by the error detection means 13 and analyzes the content of the data. Here, the control unit 9 is usually constituted by a microcomputer.

Next, the operation for transmitting a signal will be described. The control unit 9 creates transmission data and modulates the
Output to The modulation unit 10 modulates the transmission data sent from the control unit 9 and sends the data to the wireless transmission unit 11. The wireless transmission means 11 transmits the signal modulated by the modulation means 10. The transmission is transmitted from antenna 1 or antenna 2. Here, which of the antenna 1 and the antenna 2 to transmit a signal is determined by the transmission antenna determining means 12. The transmitting antenna determining means 12 determines a transmitting antenna based on information from the error detecting means 13.
That is, the error detection unit 13 outputs to the transmission antenna determination unit 12 information on which data from the demodulation unit A5 or the demodulation unit B6 has been sent to the control unit 9 during reception. The transmitting antenna determining means 12 determines the antennas 1 and 2 for transmitting the transmission signal transmitted from the wireless transmitting means 11 based on the information from the error detecting means 13 as the antennas with less errors.

As described above, transmission and reception of signals are performed. According to this method, the radio receiving means A3 and the radio receiving means B determine the selected receiving system at the time of reception and the transmitting antenna at the time of transmission based on the number of data errors rather than the received electric field strength.
4 does not require an electric field intensity measurement portion. Error detection means 1
Various methods can be considered as the error detection method 3. For example, errors in all of the received data sent from the demodulation means A5 and B6 may be detected, or an error check may be performed only on the data (parity bits) of a specific part. Also, the output information to the transmission antenna determination means 12 may be the transmission antenna information determined by the error detection means 13 based on the number of errors in the reception data of the first limited portion of the reception signal, as in the first embodiment. Alternatively, the transmission antenna information may be determined based on the number of errors in the reception data of the last limited portion of the reception signal. The features in these cases are the same as those in the first embodiment. Note that the transmission antenna determining means 12 and the error detecting means 13 can be constituted by a microcomputer, similarly to the control section 9. In this case, the control unit 9 can be referred to as including the transmission antenna determination unit 12 and the error detection unit 13.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a wireless device (master device) for performing antenna diversity according to a third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, reference numerals 1 and 2 denote antennas. In this embodiment, a two-branch space diversity with two antennas is used. 3 is a wireless receiving means A. 4 is a wireless receiving means B. Reference numeral 5 denotes demodulation means A. Reference numeral 6 denotes demodulation means B. Reference numeral 7 denotes a level determination unit. Reference numeral 8 denotes a reception information selection unit. 9 is a control unit. Reference numeral 10 denotes a modulation unit. Reference numeral 11 denotes a wireless transmission unit. Reference numeral 12 denotes a transmitting antenna determining unit. Reference numeral 14 denotes a received information use count storage unit. The demodulation unit A5, the demodulation unit B6, the level determination unit 7, the reception information selection unit 8, the control unit 9, the modulation unit 10, and the reception information use count storage unit 14 constitute a signal analysis unit 22c of the present invention.

In FIG. 4, the operation when receiving a signal is the same as that in the first embodiment. That is, the master unit transmits the signal from the slave unit to the antenna 1 and the antenna 2
Then, the reception data is input to the reception information selection means 8 from the reception radio reception means A3 through the demodulation means A5 or from the radio reception means B4 through the demodulation means B6. Also, the wireless receiving means A
3 and the electric field strength measured by the radio receiving means B4 are sent to the level judging means 7, and the comparison result of the electric field strength is sent to the reception information selecting means 8. The reception information selection means 8 performs demodulation means A based on the determination result from the level determination means 7.
5 and the received data sent from the demodulating means B6, the data with the larger electric field strength is output to the control unit 9, and the control unit 9 analyzes the data content.

Next, the operation for transmitting a signal will be described. The control unit 9 creates transmission data and modulates the
Output to The modulation unit 10 modulates the transmission data sent from the control unit 9 and sends the data to the wireless transmission unit 11. The wireless transmission means 11 transmits the signal modulated by the modulation means 10. The transmission is transmitted from antenna 1 or antenna 2. Here, whether the signal is transmitted from the antenna 1 or the antenna 2 is determined by the reception information use count storage unit 14. The received information use count storage means 14 operates as follows. At the time of reception, the reception information selection means 8 outputs the reception data output to the control unit 9 based on the information on the magnitude of the electric field strength sent from the level determination means 7 to the output from the demodulation means A5 or from the demodulation means B6. The received information selecting means 8 outputs the information to the received information use number storing means 14. The reception information use count storage unit 14 stores the result. That is,
For one reception, the receiving system A (the flow of the antenna 1 → the wireless receiving unit A3 → the demodulating unit A5) is used frequently or the receiving system B (the antenna 2 → the wireless receiving unit B4 → the demodulating unit B)
The received information use count storage unit 14 counts and stores whether the number of times of using (flow 6) is large. Then, information indicating which of the receiving systems has the larger number of times is output to the transmitting antenna determining means 12. The transmitting antenna determining means 12 determines a transmitting antenna based on the information from the received information use number storing means 14. That is, the transmitting antenna determining means 12 determines whether the antennas 1 and 2 transmitting the transmission signal transmitted from the wireless transmitting means 11 depend on which receiving system has transmitted the received data to the control unit 9 most frequently during the previous reception. The antenna on the side with the larger number of times is determined.

As described above, signal transmission and reception are performed. According to this method, the reception information selecting means 8 can switch the reception system while receiving signals as in the case of the first embodiment, so that reception in the reception system having a large electric field strength is always possible. Furthermore, since the switching antenna (frequency of use) for each receiving system is counted and the transmission antenna is determined based on the result, it is possible to transmit with the antenna with the smaller drop in the electric field strength due to fading at the time of immediately preceding reception. . This means that a system that always copes with fluctuations in the received electric field strength due to various fadings is established. Note that the level determination means 7, the reception information selection means 8, the control unit 9, the transmission antenna determination means 12, and the reception information use frequency storage means 14 can be constituted by a microcomputer.

FIG. 5 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention, which is applied to the system shown in FIG. In FIG.
The ellipse represents the distance from the fixed station radio base station 15.
That is, the remote unit closest to the fixed-station radio base station 15 is the fixed-station radio sub-unit 16, and the remotest station is the fixed-station radio sub-unit 18.

Next, FIG. 5 shows an internal block diagram of the fixed station radio base station 15. In FIG. 5, reference numerals 1 and 2 denote antennas. 3 is a wireless receiving means A. 4 is a wireless receiving means B. Reference numeral 5 denotes demodulation means A. Reference numeral 6 denotes demodulation means B.
Reference numeral 7 denotes a level determination unit. Reference numeral 8 denotes a reception information selection unit. 9 is a control unit. Reference numeral 10 denotes a modulation unit. Reference numeral 11 denotes a wireless transmission unit. Reference numeral 12 denotes a transmitting antenna determining unit. 19 is a position information storage unit. Demodulation means A5, demodulation means B6, level determination means 7, reception information selection means 8,
The control unit 9, the modulation unit 10, and the position information storage unit 19
The signal analyzing means 22d of the present invention is constituted.

In FIG. 1, the fixed-station radio base station 15 and the fixed-station radio base stations 16, 17, and 18 perform an initial registration operation at the time of installation. That is, this is an operation in which each wireless device registers information necessary for wireless communication.

At the time of this initial registration operation, the fixed-station wireless handset 1
6, 17 and 18 respectively send information indicating the position of the own station to the fixed station radio base station 15. Information indicating the position of the own station is notified by a method of inputting to each slave unit by a person at the time of installation work or the like. Each of the fixed-station wireless terminals 16, 17, and 18 sends the input information indicating the position of the own station to the fixed-station wireless base station 15 by an initial registration operation. The information indicating the position is, for example, position coordinates and the like. The fixed-station wireless base unit 15 is a fixed-station wireless slave unit 16, 17,
The position information during the initial registration operation transmitted from the wireless communication device 18 is wirelessly received. The received signal is demodulated and sent to the control unit 9 in FIG. Note that this position information is demodulated by either the receiving system A (the flow of the antenna 1 → the wireless receiving means A3 → the demodulating means A5) or the receiving system B (the flow of the antenna 2 → the wireless receiving means B4 → the demodulating means B6) in FIG. May be. That is,
As in the case of the first embodiment, the reception information selection unit 8 may switch according to the output of the level determination unit 7. The demodulated position information of each slave unit is sent to the control unit 9, and the control unit 9 analyzes the position information. Here, its own positional information (including the antenna position, the antenna directivity, the gain, etc.) is registered in the fixed-station wireless base station 15 in advance. This registration is performed when the fixed-station wireless base station 15 is installed. The control unit 9 entangles and analyzes both the received position information of each slave unit and its own position information. For example, regarding the position information from the fixed-station wireless slave 16, the fixed-station wireless is considered in consideration of the distance between the two (the fixed-station wireless slave 16 and the fixed-station wireless base station 15) and the directivity of the antennas 1 and 2. The relationship between the slaves 16 (eg, whether the fixed-station wireless slave 16 is present in the maximum directivity direction of the antenna 1) is analyzed. The control unit 9 stores these analysis results in the position information storage unit 1.
9 is output. Based on the output from the control unit 9, the position information storage unit 19 determines which of the antennas 1 and 2 transmits radio waves more easily to reach the other party when performing wireless communication with the fixed station wireless terminal 16, The result is output to the transmission antenna determining means 12. Transmission antenna determination means 1
2 is the first based on the determination result of the location information storage unit 19.
As in the case of the embodiment, switching is performed between the antenna 1 and the antenna 2 to transmit the transmission data transmitted from the control unit 9 through the modulation unit 10 and the wireless transmission unit 11.

According to this method, at the time of transmission from the fixed-station radio base station 15 to each slave unit, signals can be transmitted from an appropriate antenna as a radio wave propagation path by grasping the mutual positions. This method is established because both the master unit and the slave unit are fixed stations. Note that the level determination means 7, the reception information selection means 8, the control unit 9, the transmission antenna determination means 12, and the position information storage means 19 can be constituted by a microcomputer.

FIG. 6 is an internal block diagram of the fifth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 6, reference numerals 1 and 2 denote antennas.
3 is a wireless receiving means A. 4 is a wireless receiving means B. Reference numeral 5 denotes demodulation means A. Reference numeral 6 denotes demodulation means B. 7
Is a level determining means. Reference numeral 8 denotes a reception information selection unit. 9 is a control unit. Reference numeral 10 denotes a modulation unit. Reference numeral 11 denotes a wireless transmission unit. Reference numeral 12 denotes a transmitting antenna determining unit. Reference numeral 20 denotes position estimating means. The demodulation unit A5, the demodulation unit B6, the level determination unit 7, the reception information selection unit 8, the control unit 9, the modulation unit 10, and the position estimation unit 20 constitute a signal analysis unit 22e of the present invention.

In FIG. 6, the procedure from the reception of the radio wave by the antenna to the input of the demodulated data to the control unit 9 is the same as in the first embodiment. Here, the wireless receiving means A3 and the wireless receiving means B4 also output the field strength measurement result of the received signal output to the level determining means 7 to the position estimating means 20. The position assuming means 20 assumes the position of the other wireless device (the wireless device that has transmitted the signal) from the input electric field strength. The position is assumed as follows, for example. The received electric field strength in free space due to the attenuation of the radio wave due to the radio wave propagation is 10 log (4πd / λ) ² d: the distance between the transmission side and the reception side, and λ: wavelength. In addition to the above equation, in an actual environment, fading occurs due to the influence of an object such as a building or the effect of a moving object, and the electric field strength fluctuates. Also, the electric field strength varies depending on the characteristics of the transmitting and receiving antennas (directivity, gain, etc.). Therefore, the position estimating means 20
Calculates, for example, which of the antenna 1 and the antenna 2 is closer to the partner wireless device by using the above equation, based on the input electric field strength. The calculation result is output to the transmission antenna determining means 12. The transmitting antenna determining means 12 transmits the transmission data transmitted from the control section 9 through the modulating means 10 and the wireless transmitting means 11 in accordance with the output of the position estimating means 20 in the same manner as in the first embodiment. Switch between transmission.

According to this method, it is possible to transmit a radio wave from an appropriate transmitting antenna, assuming the position of the wireless communication device from the information at the time of reception. Note that this assumption result can be applied to antenna selection at the time of signal reception. That is,
In the same manner as in the first embodiment, a notification is made by a method in which a person inputs to each slave unit at the time of the event. Fixed station wireless handsets 16, 17, 1
8 transmits the input information indicating the position of the own station to the fixed-station wireless base station 15 in the initial registration operation. The information indicating the position is, for example, position coordinates and the like. The fixed-station radio base station 15 wirelessly receives the position information during the initial registration operation transmitted from the fixed-station radio base stations 16, 17, and 18. The received signal is demodulated and sent to the control unit 9 in FIG. This position information is shown in FIG.
The demodulation may be performed by either the receiving system A (the flow of the antenna 1 → the wireless receiving means A3 → the demodulating means A5) or the receiving system B (the flow of the antenna 2 → the wireless receiving means B4 → the demodulating means B6). That is, as in the case of the first embodiment, the reception information selection unit 8 may switch according to the output of the level determination unit 7. The demodulated position information of each slave unit is sent to the control unit 9, and the control unit 9 analyzes the position information. Here, the fixed station radio base station 15 has its own position information (including antenna position, antenna directivity, gain, etc.) in advance.
Is registered. This registration is performed when the fixed-station wireless base station 15 is installed. The control unit 9 entangles and analyzes both the received position information of each slave unit and its own position information. For example, regarding the position information from the fixed-station wireless slave unit 16, the fixed-station wireless unit 16 is considered in consideration of the distance between the two (the fixed-station wireless slave unit 16 and the fixed-station wireless master unit 15) and the directivity of its own antenna 1 and antenna 2. The relationship between the slaves 16 (such as whether the fixed-station wireless slave 16 exists in the maximum directivity direction of the antenna 1) is analyzed. The control unit 9 outputs these analysis results to the position information storage unit 19. Based on the output from the control unit 9, the position information storage unit 19 determines which of the antennas 1 and 2 transmits radio waves more easily to reach the other party when performing wireless communication with the fixed station wireless terminal 16, The result is output to the transmission antenna determining means 12. Thereby, the tendency of the fluctuation of the electric field strength due to fading or the like can be grasped, and a system with higher accuracy than in the fourth embodiment can be created.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a wireless device (master device) for performing antenna diversity according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 7, reference numerals 1 and 2 denote antennas. Reference numeral 3a denotes a wireless receiving means, and 5a denotes a demodulating means. In this embodiment, unlike the first to fifth embodiments, each of them is singly installed. 7a is a level determination means. 9
a is a control unit. Reference numeral 10 denotes a modulation unit. Reference numeral 11 denotes a wireless transmission unit. 12a is a switch determining means, 12b is an antenna switch, and 12c is a transmission / reception switch. The demodulation unit 5a, the level determination unit 7a, the control unit 9a, and the modulation unit 10 correspond to the signal analysis unit 2 of the present invention.
Constituting No. 2. Further, the switching determination means 12a, the antenna switching switch 12b, and the transmission / reception switching switch 1
2c has a function of determining a receiving antenna and a transmitting antenna to either the antenna 1 or the antenna 2,
The transmission antenna determining means of the present invention is included.

Referring to FIG. 7, the operation for receiving a signal will be described first. At the beginning of reception, for example, the transmission / reception changeover switch 12c is set to the reception side, and the antenna changeover switch 12b is set to the antenna 1 side. Then, the radio signal received by the antenna 1 is guided to the radio receiving means 3a via the antenna changeover switch 12b and the transmission / reception changeover switch 12c, from which it is sent to the demodulation means 5a and to the level judgment means 7a. Can be Next, based on a command from the control unit 9a, the switching determination unit 12a switches the antenna switch 12b to the antenna 2 while keeping the transmission / reception switch 12c on the reception side. Then, the wireless signal received by the antenna 2 is guided to the wireless receiving means 3a via the antenna changeover switch 12b and the transmission / reception changeover switch 12c, from which it is sent to the demodulation means 5a and also to the level determination means 7a. . As described above, the reception on the antenna 1 side and the reception on the antenna 2 side are alternately repeated several times, and the level determination means 7a compares the magnitudes of the electric field intensities of both the received signals, and compares the result with the control section 9a. Output to The control unit 9a selects one of the received data transmitted from the antenna 1 and the antenna 2 with the larger electric field strength based on the determination result from the level determination unit 7a, and selects a reception antenna for the switching determination unit 12a. Command.
The switching determination means 12a is an antenna switching switch 1.
2b is set on the selected antenna side, and thereafter, reception is performed using reception data transmitted from that antenna.

Next, the operation for transmitting a signal will be described. The control unit 9a instructs the switch determination unit 12a to switch the transmission / reception switch 12c to the transmission side, and at the same time, sets the antenna selection switch so that the reception antenna and the selected antenna can also be used as the transmission antenna. 12b is set.
Then, the control unit 9a creates transmission data, and
Output to The modulating unit 10 modulates the transmission data sent from the control unit 9a and sends the modulated data to the wireless transmission unit 11.
The wireless transmission unit 11 transmits the signal modulated by the modulation unit 10 from the selected antenna via the transmission / reception switch 12c and the antenna switch 12b.

In this embodiment, the level determining means 7
a determines the strength of the signal at the start of signal reception and determines the transmitting and receiving antenna based on the signal strength. However, determines the strength of the received signal during signal reception or at the end of signal reception, and determines the transmitting and receiving antenna based on this. It is also possible. Further, a configuration including an error detection unit as in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 3 or a position information storage unit and a position estimation unit as in the fourth and fifth embodiments shown in FIGS. Configuration.

[0043]

According to the present invention, in a radio system in which at least two or more fixedly installed radios communicate with each other and at least one radio has two or more antennas and performs antenna diversity, the reliability of the communication is improved. Performance can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a home network to which an antenna diversity wireless system is applied.

FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram of a wireless device that performs antenna diversity according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration block diagram of a wireless device that performs antenna diversity according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration block diagram of a wireless device that performs antenna diversity according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a wireless device that performs antenna diversity according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a wireless device that performs antenna diversity according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a configuration block diagram of a wireless device that performs antenna diversity according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 antenna 2 antenna 3 wireless receiving means A 3a wireless receiving means 4 wireless receiving means B 5 demodulating means A 5a demodulating means 6 demodulating means B 7 level determining means 11 wireless transmitting means 12 transmitting antenna determining means 12a switching determining means 12b antenna switching switch 12c Transmission / reception changeover switch 13 Error detecting means 14 Received information use count storing means 19 Position information storing means 20 Position estimating means 22, 22a to 22e Signal analyzing means

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (71) Applicant 000221834 Toho Gas Co., Ltd. 19-18, Sakuradacho, Atsuta-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi (71) Applicant 000003078 Toshiba Corporation Applicant 000005234 Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. 1-1-1, Tanabe-Nitta, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa (72) Inventor Katsunori Tanie 1006 Ojidoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshio Horiike Osaka No. 1006, Kadoma, Kadoma, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masahiro Yamamoto 1006, Kadoma, Kadoma, Osaka, Japan Inside Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Mamoru Suzuki 1-4, Toyosumi, Kashiwa, Chiba 5 Minamikashiwa Park Homes 103 (72) Inventor Kiyohisa Ishikawa 2-7-9 Innai, Funabashi-shi, Chiba Prefecture T & S Nishifune 401 (72) Inventor Fujiwara (72) Inventor Masahiro Yasui 4-1-2, Hirano-cho, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi Osaka City Gas Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shoji Yamaguchi Hirano, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi No. 4 chome cho, Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (72) The inventor Noriaki Iwamoto No. 4 1-2 No. 2 Hiranocho Chuo-ku, Osaka city Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akira Higashino Chuo-ku, Osaka city 4-1-2, Hirano-cho, Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. Inside the Toshiba Yanagimachi Plant (72) Inventor Masaharu Takeda 70, Yanagicho, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Toshiba Yanagimachi Plant (72) Inventor Eiji Matsumoto 1-1-1, Tanabe-shinda, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shiro Kondo 1-1, Tanabe-Nitta, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takeshi Ue Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Kawasaki-ku, Tanabeshinden No. 1 No. 1 Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. in the F-term (reference) 5K059 CC03 EE02

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A radio system for performing antenna diversity in a radio system in which at least two or more fixedly installed radio devices communicate with each other and at least one radio device has two or more antennas and performs antenna diversity. Wireless receiving means for receiving a wireless signal with two or more antennas, wireless transmitting means for transmitting a signal using one of the antennas, and signal analyzing means for analyzing the content of the signal received by the wireless receiving means An antenna diversity wireless system comprising: a transmitting antenna determining unit that determines a transmitting antenna based on a result analyzed by the signal analyzing unit. 2. The signal analyzing means has level determining means for determining the strength of a signal received by the wireless receiving means, and the transmitting antenna determining means determines a transmitting antenna based on the result determined by the level determining means. The antenna diversity wireless system according to claim 1. 3. The antenna diversity wireless system according to claim 2, wherein the level determining means determines the strength of the received signal at the start of signal reception. 4. The antenna diversity wireless system according to claim 2, wherein the level determining means determines the strength of the received signal during signal reception. 5. The antenna diversity wireless system according to claim 2, wherein the level determining means determines the strength of the received signal at the end of signal reception. 6. The antenna diversity wireless system according to claim 1, wherein the signal analyzing means detects the strength of the received signal and an error in the received signal being received so far, and determines a transmission antenna based on the calculation result. 7. The signal analyzing means includes: level determining means for determining the strength of a signal received by the wireless receiving means; and signal receiving means for receiving signals from two or more antennas based on signal strength information determined by the level determining means during signal reception. Receiving information selecting means for determining one of the pieces of information as the receiving information; and receiving information use number storing means for storing the number of times the receiving information is determined by the receiving information selecting means for each antenna. 2. The antenna diversity wireless system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission antenna is determined based on the reception information use number stored in the reception information use number storage means. 8. A radio system in which at least two or more fixedly installed radios communicate with each other and at least one radio has two or more antennas and performs antenna diversity, a radio that performs antenna diversity uses another radio. Position information storage means for storing position information of a wireless device, wireless reception means for receiving a wireless signal with two or more antennas, wireless transmission means for transmitting a signal using one of the antennas, and the position information storage An antenna diversity wireless system having a transmitting antenna determining means for determining a transmitting antenna based on position information stored in the means. 9. A radio system in which at least two or more fixedly installed radios communicate with each other and at least one radio has two or more antennas and performs antenna diversity, wherein two radios performing antenna diversity are used. Radio receiving means for receiving a radio signal with the above antenna, radio transmitting means for transmitting a signal using any one of the antennas, and the position of the other radio device based on the strength of the signal received by the radio receiving means. An antenna diversity wireless system comprising: an assumed position estimating unit; and a transmitting antenna determining unit that determines a transmitting antenna based on a position of a partner wireless device assumed by the position estimating unit. 10. A wireless receiving means for receiving a wireless signal with two or more antennas, comprising: level determining means for analyzing the strength of a signal received; 10. The antenna diversity wireless system according to claim 9, wherein a position of a partner wireless device is assumed.