JP2003124939A - Wireless lan system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wireless LAN system for controlling the radio communication performance in an appropriate condition with a plurality of client computers connected to a wireless network. SOLUTION: The wireless LAN system has an access point controller Ap which registers MAC addresses of client computers PC1-PCn requesting the wireless connection on MAC address registering areas of an internal memory to enable the wireless connection of the computers PC1-PCn, and limits the number of MAC addresses of the computers PC1-PCn to be registered onto the MAC address registering areas, thereby controlling the communication performance of the radio communication. This prevents the communication speed from deteriorating due to radio wave interference, etc., and the communication performance from deterioration, as a specified number of client terminals performing the radio communication is exceeded, thus performing a pleasant radio communication.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wireless LAN system, and more particularly to a wireless LAN system in which a plurality of client computers are connected to a wireless network and wireless communication performance is controlled to an appropriate state.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a wireless LAN system is expensive and its equipment is large-scale and difficult to obtain. Further, in terms of communication speed (performance), it is sufficient for a large-scale wireless system. Although it has excellent performance, in a wireless system used for small office use,
The performance was insufficient.

However, today, the wireless LAN system is
In terms of cost, a PCMCIA card-sized wireless LAN device has come to be provided, which is very easy to obtain and is beginning to spread to the market. The reason why the wireless LAN system has become widespread is 2.4 GH
In addition to the z band (also referred to as ISM band) being a frequency band that can be used without permission from a public organization, it can be mentioned that the communication speed (performance) has been improved to a maximum of 11 Mbps by technical improvement.

In the wireless LAN system,
Pee connecting two client computers
An r to Peer method (Adhoc mode) and a method (infrastructure mode method) that can connect to a plurality of client computers and a backbone wired LAN using an access point for wireless LAN have been put into practical use. The communication distance of the wireless LAN system is generally 50 m indoors and 100 m outdoors. Also,
The transfer rate (performance) of the wireless LAN system is
It is 11 Mbps according to the IEEE 802.11b standard, which is the international standard of the existing wired LA.
It is comparable to N-based 10Base-T (10 Mbps), and is a factor for its widespread use in the market.

However, the frequency band used by the wireless LAN is the 2.4 GHz band, which is also called the ISM band, and there are many devices that use this frequency band in the market.

Therefore, the communication speed often decreases due to radio wave interference or the like. Further, it is recommended that the number of client computers to be wirelessly connected to be about 10 even when using an access point, and if more than that are connected, communication performance will be significantly reduced due to radio wave interference.

Conventionally, a wireless LAN slave station which is provided with a device for centrally controlling wireless communication to constantly monitor the state of each slave station wirelessly connected to perform data transfer at the maximum transfer speed that can be currently transferred. An apparatus has been proposed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-2
(See Japanese Patent No. 00211).

Further, conventionally, a buffer for absorbing the difference in transfer rate between the connected slave stations is provided, and the upper-level computer controls communication according to the state of this buffer, so that a wireless LAN for maximizing performance is obtained. A control device has been proposed (see JP-A-11-175437).

[0009]

However, in such a conventional wireless communication LAN system, the wireless L
In order to improve the communication speed of the entire AN system,
There was a need for improvement. That is, all of the techniques described in the above publications prevent a decrease in communication speed due to a difference in transfer speed between slave stations, and decrease communication speed due to radio wave interference or communication due to connection of client computers exceeding a specified number. It does not solve the decrease in speed, and cannot solve the problem of decrease in communication speed due to these factors.

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when a plurality of client terminals perform wireless communication of data via at least one access point device, the access point device requests the wireless connection of the client terminal. The MAC address is registered in the MAC address registration memory to enable the wireless connection of the client terminal, and the number of registrations of the MAC address of the client terminal in the MAC address registration memory is limited to perform wireless communication. By controlling the performance, it is possible to prevent a decrease in communication speed due to radio wave interference, etc., and to prevent a decrease in communication performance when the number of client terminals that perform wireless communication exceeds the specified number, and to ensure comfortable wireless communication. An object is to provide a wireless LAN system that can be performed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the access point device determines the communicable state of the client terminal registered in the MAC address registration memory and determines the MAC address of the client terminal in the communicable state. By deleting from the MAC address registration memory and registering the MAC address of a new client terminal, the client terminal that is not communicating is disconnected and the client terminal that wants to connect is connected. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wireless LAN system capable of improving the usability while appropriately maintaining the communication performance.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the access point apparatus enables more client terminals to be connected by appropriately changing the number of registered MAC addresses of the client terminals in the MAC address registration memory. An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless LAN system capable of maintaining the maximum transfer performance of communication at that time and improving the usability while appropriately maintaining the communication performance.

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wireless LAN system in which a plurality of client terminals wirelessly communicate data via at least one access point device. The device is a MAC that the client terminal has.
A MAC address registration memory for registering an address is provided, and M of the client terminal that has made a wireless connection request.
The wireless communication is performed by registering an AC address in the memory for MAC address registration to enable wireless connection of the client terminal, and limiting the number of registration of the MAC address of the client terminal in the memory for MAC address registration. The above-mentioned object is achieved by controlling the communication performance of.

According to the above configuration, when a plurality of client terminals perform wireless communication of data via at least one access point device, the access point device performs MAC connection of the client terminal that has made a wireless connection request.
The address is registered in the MAC address registration memory to enable wireless connection of the client terminal, and
Since the number of MAC addresses of client terminals registered in the MAC address registration memory is limited to control the communication performance of wireless communication, it is possible to prevent a decrease in communication speed due to radio wave interference and the like, and to perform wireless communication. It is possible to prevent the communication performance from deteriorating when the number of client terminals performing the operation exceeds the specified number, and it is possible to perform comfortable wireless communication.

In this case, for example, as described in claim 2, the access point device determines the communication enabled / disabled state of the client terminal registered in the MAC address registration memory, and determines that the client terminal is in the communication disabled state. The existing MAC address of the client terminal may be deleted from the MAC address registration memory to enable registration of a new MAC address of the client terminal.

According to the above configuration, the access point device determines the communication enable / disable state of the client terminal registered in the MAC address registration memory, and determines the MAC address of the client terminal in the communication disable state as the MA address.
Since it is possible to register the MAC address of a new client terminal by deleting it from the C address registration memory, disconnect the client terminal that is not communicating and connect the client terminal that wants to connect. Therefore, the communication performance can be appropriately maintained, and the usability can be improved.

Further, for example, as described in claim 3, the access point device may be capable of appropriately changing the number of registered MAC addresses of the client terminals in the MAC address registration memory.

According to the above configuration, the access point device appropriately changes the number of MAC addresses of the client terminals registered in the MAC address registration memory, so that more client terminals can be connected. The maximum transfer performance of communication at that time can be maintained, the communication performance can be appropriately maintained, and the usability can be improved.

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments described below are preferred embodiments of the present invention, and therefore have various technically preferable limitations. However, the scope of the present invention refers to the present invention particularly in the following description. Unless otherwise stated, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

1 to 4 are diagrams showing an embodiment of a wireless LAN system of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a wireless LAN to which an embodiment of the wireless LAN system of the present invention is applied.
2 is a system configuration diagram of the system 1. FIG.

In FIG. 1, the wireless LAN system 1 is
Multiple client computers (client terminals)
The PC 1 to PCn and the access point device Ap are provided, and the access point device Ap is connected to the wired LAN 2. The wireless LAN system 1 is a wired LAN 2
By connecting another access point device (not shown) to the other wireless LAN system via the wired LAN 2. In the present embodiment, the access point device Ap is connected to the wired LAN 2 and a plurality of wireless L's are connected.
Although a case where an AN system is constructed is shown, a single wireless LAN system may be used. Further, the access point device Ap is connected to the 10Base via the wired LAN 2.
-T, 100Base-TX.

Each client computer PC1 to PC
n is equipped with a wireless communication adapter, and the processed data is transmitted via the wireless communication adapter to the access point device Ap.
Wirelessly, and data wirelessly transmitted from the other client computers PC1 to PCn via the access point device Ap is received via the wireless communication adapter and processed by the information processing device.

The access point device Ap wirelessly transmits / receives transfer data to / from the wireless communication adapters of the client computers PC1 to PCn, and relays wireless communication within the wireless LAN system 1.

Client computers PC1 to PCn
Are wirelessly connected mainly to the access point device Ap, and the addition and deletion of the client computers PC1 to PCn can be appropriately performed. In addition, the client computers PC1 to PCn are Pee for each two computers.
An r to Peer connection (one-to-one connection) is also possible.

In the wireless LAN system 1, since the recommended number of client computers PC1 to PCn is about 10 as described above, if the number of client computers PC1 to PCn exceeds 10. , There is a risk that the communication performance will deteriorate due to radio wave interference.

Therefore, in the wireless LAN system 1 of the present embodiment, the MA of the internal memory of the access point device Ap is
In the C address registration memory area (MAC address registration memory), as shown in FIG. 2, MAC (Media Access Control) of each client computer PC1 to PCn
The address is registered together with the number of connected devices, and the access point device Ap limits the number of connected devices to the number that can realize the maximum transfer performance of the access point device Ap based on this MAC address.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. In the wireless LAN system 1, the memory of the access point device Ap is provided with the MA of the client computers PC1 to PCn.
It is characterized in that the maximum transfer performance is realized by registering the C address and limiting the number of client computers PC1 to PCn connected at the same time.

That is, in the wireless LAN system 1, the client computers PC1 to PCn send and receive transfer data to and from each other via the access point device Ap.
Is a client computer PC that has a wireless connection request
1 to PCn are confirmed (step S101), the availability of the memory area for MAC address registration of the internal memory is confirmed (step S102), and the number of client computers PC1 to PCn requested for wireless connection and the MAC address registration memory are confirmed. Compare the availability of (Step S
103), it is checked whether or not there is a free space in the memory (step S104).

In step S104, if there is a free space in the MAC address registration memory area, the access point device A
p is a client computer PC that has made a connection request
The MAC addresses of 1 to PCn are registered in the MAC address registration memory area (step S105), and wireless communication is started (step S106).

In step S104, if there is no free area in the MAC address registration memory area, it is determined that connection is not possible, and the retry operation is repeated until the MAC address registration memory area becomes free (step S1).
04).

The access point device Ap is connected to the client computer PC1 currently wirelessly connected.
~ Communication with PCn is performed by the client computer PC1
~ It is judged whether communication is not possible due to power off (off) of PCn (step S107), and if communication is not possible, the registered client computers PC1 to PCn are registered.
Is deleted from the MAC address registration memory area, and the MAC addresses of the client computers PC1 to PCn requesting connection are registered in the MAC address.

As described above, the wireless LAN system 1 of the present embodiment has a plurality of client computers PC1 to PC1.
When the PCn performs wireless communication of data via at least one access point device Ap, the access point device Ap registers the MAC addresses of the client computers PC1 to PCn that have made a wireless connection request for MAC address registration in the internal memory. The wireless communication is performed by registering in the memory area to enable the wireless connection of the client computers PC1 to PCn and limiting the number of MAC addresses of the client computers PC1 to PCn registered in the memory area for MAC address registration. It controls performance.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent a decrease in communication speed due to radio wave interference and the like, and it is possible to prevent a decrease in communication performance due to the number of client terminals performing wireless communication exceeding a prescribed number, which is comfortable. Wireless communication can be performed.

Further, in the wireless LAN system 1 of the present embodiment, the access point device Ap determines whether or not the client computers PC1 to PCn registered in the MAC address registration memory area can communicate with each other to turn off the power. The MAC addresses of the client computers PC1 to PCn that are in the communication disabled state are deleted from the MAC address registration memory area to enable registration of new MAC addresses of the client computers PC1 to PCn.

Therefore, the client computers PC1 to PCn not communicating with each other are disconnected, and the client computers PC1 to P1 wishing to be connected are disconnected.
Cn connection can be performed, communication performance can be appropriately maintained, and usability can be improved.

In the above process, the memory area for MAC address registration is fixed to the number of connected client computers PC1 to PCn that can maximize the communication speed (performance), but the upper limit of the memory for MAC address registration is set. Alternatively, it may be variable so that the number of connected devices that can maximize the communication speed (performance) can be set.

That is, the access point device Ap is
Client computers PC1 to 1 that have a wireless connection request
When PCn is confirmed (step S201), the client computer P capable of maintaining the maximum transfer performance with the upper limit of the MAC address registration memory area of the internal memory.
The number is set to C1 to PCn (step S202), and the availability of the upper limit MAC address registration memory area is confirmed (step S203).

The access point device Ap is connected to the client computers PC1 to PCn for which wireless connection is requested.
And the availability of the MAC address registration memory are compared (step S204), and it is checked whether the memory is available (step S205).

In step S205, if there is a free space in the MAC address registration memory area, the access point device A
p is a client computer PC that has made a connection request
The MAC addresses of 1 to PCn are registered in the MAC address registration memory area (step S206), and wireless communication is started (step S207).

If there is no free area in the MAC address registration memory area in step S205, it is determined that the connection is not possible, and the retry operation is repeated until the MAC address registration memory area is free (step S2).
05).

The access point device Ap is connected to the client computer PC1 currently wirelessly connected.
~ Communication with PCn is performed by the client computer PC1
~ It is judged whether communication is not possible due to power off (off) of PCn (step S208), and if communication is not possible, the registered client computers PC1 to PCn are registered.
Is deleted from the MAC address registration memory area, and the MAC addresses of the client computers PC1 to PCn requesting connection are registered in the MAC address.

By doing so, it is possible to connect more client computers PC1 to PCn, and it is possible to maintain the maximum transfer performance of communication at that time, and to properly maintain the communication performance. It is possible to improve the usability.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. It goes without saying that it is possible.

[0044]

According to the wireless LAN system of the present invention, when a plurality of client terminals perform wireless communication of data via at least one access point device, the access point device requests the wireless connection. The MAC address of the client terminal
Since the wireless connection of the client terminal is enabled by registering in the memory for address registration, the communication performance of wireless communication is controlled by limiting the number of registered MAC addresses of the client terminal in the memory for MAC address registration. , It is possible to prevent a decrease in communication speed due to radio wave interference, etc., and it is also possible to prevent the communication performance from decreasing when the number of client terminals performing wireless communication exceeds the specified number, and comfortable wireless communication is achieved. It can be carried out.

According to the wireless LAN system of the second aspect of the present invention, the access point device determines the communication enabled / disabled state of the client terminal registered in the MAC address registration memory, and is in the communication disabled state. Since the MAC address of the client terminal is deleted from the MAC address registration memory and the MAC address of a new client terminal can be registered, disconnect the client terminal that is not communicating and request the connection. It is possible to connect existing client terminals, maintain appropriate communication performance, and improve usability.

According to the wireless LAN system of the third aspect of the present invention, since the access point device appropriately changes the number of registered MAC addresses of the client terminals in the MAC address registration memory, more client terminals can be connected. It is possible to maintain the maximum transfer performance of communication at that time, it is possible to appropriately maintain the communication performance, and it is possible to improve the usability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a wireless LAN system to which an embodiment of a wireless LAN system of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a MAC address registration memory area of the access point device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a wireless connection number control process by the access point device of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing another example of wireless connection number processing by the access point device of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Wireless LAN system 2 Wired LAN PC1 to PCn client computers Ap access point device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In a wireless LAN system in which a plurality of client terminals wirelessly communicates data via at least one access point device, the access point device registers a MAC address registered in the MAC address of the client terminal. For registering the MAC address of the client terminal that has made a wireless connection request in the MAC address registration memory to enable wireless connection of the client terminal, and the client to the MAC address registration memory. A wireless LAN system characterized in that the communication performance of the wireless communication is controlled by limiting the number of registered MAC addresses of terminals. 2. The access point device, the MAC
The communication enable / disable state of the client terminal registered in the address registration memory is determined, and the MAC address of the client terminal in the communication disable state is set to the M
The wireless LAN system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless LAN system is capable of registering a new MAC address of the client terminal by deleting it from the AC address registration memory. 3. The access point device comprises the MAC
MA of the client terminal in the memory for address registration
The wireless LAN system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the number of registered C addresses can be changed appropriately.