JP2004007079A - Radio communication system, radio terminal and housing device selection method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To house a Bluetooth terminal without causing deflection in the establishment of a communication channel. <P>SOLUTION: The Bluetooth terminal 20 has a uniform connection processing portion 22. The uniform connection processing portion 22 collects the working information of each access point and selects the access point to be connected prior to the establishment of the communication channel based on the working information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system and a wireless terminal according to, for example, Bluetooth, and an accommodation device selection method and program.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In Bluetooth, which is one of the wireless communication systems, the communicable range is a predetermined short range such as a building, a section of a building, or a vehicle. Therefore, in the communicable range, a plurality of access points (accommodating devices) exist for one Bluetooth terminal.
[0003]
In such a wireless communication system, as a procedure for establishing a communication path, first, a connectable Bluetooth terminal is detected by an inquiry (device detection), and a connection request is made to the detected access point. When there are a plurality of access points, a plurality of access points are detected by the detection, and one of them is selected and a connection request is issued.
[0004]
The access point selection method can be selected automatically or manually by the user. However, if the load of the access point is not taken into account at this time, Bluetooth terminals are concentrated on a specific access point, and the load tends to be uneven.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, when a Bluetooth terminal connects to an access point, if a normal inquiry (device detection) → selection of a connection destination → connection procedure is manually performed, the number of accommodated terminals and the load due to communication between the access points are increased. May be biased.
[0006]
In the access using Bluetooth, the communication throughput may decrease as the number of terminals accommodated increases, so that a Bluetooth terminal accommodated in a specific access point may have extremely deteriorated communication quality compared to others. .
[0007]
If the Bluetooth terminal can collect in advance the Bluetooth terminal usage rate for each access point, it is possible to avoid load imbalance by selectively connecting to the access point with a low usage rate. This requires a protocol for exchanging usage data between the Bluetooth terminal and the access point. Since this exchange is performed before the actual communication starts, using a high-load protocol will result in communication quality. Is reduced.
[0008]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication system and a wireless terminal capable of accommodating a wireless terminal without causing a bias in an accommodation device when a communication path is established, an accommodation device selection method, and a program. .
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a wireless communication system according to the present invention, when one wireless terminal is in a predetermined communicable range, accommodates the wireless terminal by a predetermined procedure under a plurality of accommodation devices in the wireless terminal. In a wireless communication system that performs communication between the wireless terminal and the accommodation device after establishing a communication path with the device,
The wireless terminal collects usage information of each of the accommodation devices, and includes means for selecting an accommodation device to be connected based on the use information prior to establishment of the communication path,
The accommodating device includes a unit that transmits, to the wireless device, a response for generating the usage information when the wireless device detects the wireless device.
[0010]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a wireless terminal according to the present invention is configured such that, when one wireless terminal is present in a predetermined communicable range, a plurality of accommodation devices are present in the wireless terminal, and the wireless terminal and the accommodation device In the wireless terminal in a wireless communication system that performs communication between the wireless terminal and the accommodation device after establishing a communication path between,
It is characterized in that it comprises means for collecting usage information of each of the accommodation devices and selecting an accommodation device to be connected based on the usage information prior to the establishment of the communication path.
[0011]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the accommodating device selection method according to the present invention provides a method for accommodating the wireless terminal in a wireless communication system in which a plurality of accommodating devices are present when one wireless terminal is present in a predetermined communicable range. In the device selection method,
The wireless terminal collects use information of each of the accommodation devices, and selects an accommodation device to be connected based on the use information prior to establishment of a communication path between the wireless terminal and the accommodation device. I do.
[0012]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, an accommodation device selection program according to the present invention is configured to configure the wireless terminal in a wireless communication system in which a plurality of accommodation devices exist in a wireless terminal when one wireless terminal exists in a predetermined communicable range. Computer
A procedure for collecting usage information of each of the storage devices,
Prior to establishing a communication path with the accommodation device, selecting an accommodation device to be connected based on the usage information.
[0013]
According to the present invention, when the wireless terminal accesses the accommodation device, the wireless terminal selects and connects one accommodation device based on the usage information of the accommodation device, thereby distributing the load of the accommodation device. In addition, it is possible to reduce bias in communication quality.
[0014]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an example in which a wireless communication system, a wireless terminal, an accommodation device selection method, and a program according to an embodiment of the present invention are applied to Bluetooth as a wireless communication method will be described.
[0015]
As shown in FIG. 1, the Bluetooth system according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of access points 10, a plurality of Bluetooth terminals 20, and other Bluetooth devices 30, and is used in a building, a section of a building, a vehicle, or the like. The distance range is the communicable range. One Bluetooth terminal 20 can access a plurality of access points 10. However, as shown in FIG. 2, the Bluetooth terminal 20 of the present embodiment has a new equal connection processing unit 22, An access point 10 with a light load is selected, and a communication path is established with the access point 10 with a light load.
[0016]
Normally, the access point 10 can communicate with up to seven Bluetooth terminals 20 by making its own device always the master. Also, the number of connected terminals is held at the Bluetooth module level, and the number of terminals is added as a minor device class in the device class field of the FHS packet.
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 2, the Bluetooth terminal 20 according to the present embodiment includes a Bluetooth module 21 that performs transmission / reception of a predetermined command according to Bluetooth and necessary processing, a connection destination selection processing unit 22A, a terminal number table 22B, and an automatic connection It has an equal connection processing unit 22 composed of a processing unit 22C.
[0018]
The equal connection processing unit 22 refers to a control packet that has arrived at the Bluetooth module 21, collects usage information of each of the accessible access points 10, and based on the usage information, determines the In the embodiment, the access point 10 with a light load is selected. Here, as the usage information, the minor device class added to the device class field in the FHS packet is used, and the number of terminals is added to the class.
[0019]
In addition, the equal connection processing unit 22 issues ID packets to all the access points 10 by the connection destination selection processing unit 22A. At this time, in order to prevent the Bluetooth terminal 20 from detecting a device other than the access point 10 (the Bluetooth device 30), a special inquiry code DIAC for detecting only the access point 10 is issued. Thereafter, the Bluetooth terminal 20 receives the FHS packet from the access point 10. In this case, as described above, a device obtained by adding the number of terminals as a minor device class added to the device class field in the FHS packet is received, and the minor device class is used as access information of the access point 10. This information is written in the terminal number table 22B, the data is rearranged, the access point 10 with a light load is found, the access point 10 with a light load is selected, and the Bluetooth is executed by the automatic connection processing unit 22C. A communication path is established between the terminal 20 and the selected access point 10.
[0020]
FIG. 3 shows a situation in which the Bluetooth terminal 20 accesses one of the plurality of access points 10 to establish a communication path. For example, of the six Bluetooth terminals 20, the first and second Bluetooth terminals 20 are shown. -1, 20-2 are assigned to the first access point 10-1, the third to fifth Bluetooth terminals 20-3 to 20-5 are assigned to the second access point 10-2, and the sixth Bluetooth terminal 20-6 is assigned to the third access point 10-2. The figure shows a case where the terminal is connected to the access point 10-3 and the seventh Bluetooth terminal 20-7 is newly connecting.
[0021]
The seventh Bluetooth terminal 20-7 issues an ID packet to all the access points 10 by inquiry or device detection. However, as shown in FIG. 4, the seventh Bluetooth terminal 20-7 detects that the Bluetooth terminal 20 detects a Bluetooth device 30 other than the access point 10. To avoid this, a special inquiry code DIAC for detecting only the access point 10 is issued. Thereafter, the seventh Bluetooth terminal 20-7 receives the FHS packet of each of the access points 10.
[0022]
Here, the equal connection processing unit 22 reads the acquired FHS packet, acquires the minor device class set in the device class field, and sequentially stores the minor device class in the terminal number table 22B. From the stored data, an access point 10 with a low Bluetooth terminal usage rate can be selected. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the table 22B is sorted in descending order of the number of terminals, and the access point 10 with the lowest usage rate is selected.
[0023]
In this case, when there are a plurality of target access points 10, the access point 10 that responded to the device detection earliest can be selected as the access point 10 to be connected. If the connection fails, the next connection destination is selected and the connection is made in the same manner. Here, since the access point 10 with the smallest number of accommodations is selected, the access point 10 is called to establish a connection.
[0024]
Next, an operation of selecting a low-load access point and establishing a communication path in the Bluetooth terminal of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
[0025]
In step S1, the Bluetooth terminal 20 performs device detection immediately before connecting to the access point 10. In this case, a special inquiry code DIAC for detecting only the access point 10 is issued. The Bluetooth terminal 20 periodically performs device detection while the connection is not established, and updates the number of terminals of each access point 10 accordingly.
[0026]
Next, as step S2, the Bluetooth terminal 20 receives the FHS packet from the access point 10. In this case, as described above, the terminal device receives the minor device class added to the device class field in the FHS packet with the number of terminals added thereto, and stores it in the terminal number table 22B (step S3).
[0027]
Next, in step S4, the data is rearranged to find an access point 10 with a light load, the access point 10 with a light load is selected, and in step S5, the Bluetooth connection is performed by the automatic connection processing unit 22C. By establishing a communication path between the access point 20 and the selected access point 10, it is possible to accommodate the Bluetooth terminal 20 so that the access point 10 is not biased when the communication path is established.
[0028]
As described above, when the access point 10 receives the inquiry ID packet from the Bluetooth terminal 20, the access point 10 returns an FHS response packet, and the Bluetooth terminal 20 refers to the device class field in the FHS packet, and determines the number of terminals accommodated in the access point. By acquiring, it is possible to compare the number of terminals accommodated in the access point at the time of device detection and select the access point with the smallest number of terminals.
[0029]
In addition, the Bluetooth terminal 20 must perform device detection every time connection is performed, but the procedure from device detection to connection destination selection to connection when connecting to the access point 10 is automatically performed by the equal connection processing unit 22. Therefore, it is possible to select a connection destination access point on the basis of the latest information and access without being conscious of the user.
[0030]
The access point selection method according to the present invention prevents concentration of Bluetooth terminals on a specific access point by making the selected access point not fixed.
[0031]
In order to achieve such a task, in the above-described embodiment, the Bluetooth terminal 20 grasps the number of terminals accommodated in each access point 10 and performs connection processing to the access point 10 on the condition that Bluetooth terminals do not concentrate on a specific access point. I have to. Then, as an example of the determination method, an example has been described in which the access point 10 having the smallest number of accommodation terminals is determined to be accommodable, and the other access points 10 are determined to be unacceptable. In this case, the unit of comparison of the number of accommodated terminals is generally one, but may be two or more.
[0032]
For example, assuming that the size of the comparison unit is 2, if the difference in the number of terminals is 2, it is regarded as the same, so that the number of terminals accommodated in one access point 10 is 3 When the number exceeds the threshold value, a method of determining that one access point 10 cannot be accommodated and another access point 10 can be accommodated can be adopted.
[0033]
In addition, since the access point selection method in the present invention is to make the selected access point not fixed, instead of balancing the load of each access point as described above, a certain load sharing pattern is used. Can be set and held, and the connection availability of each access point 10 can be determined so as to follow the pattern.
[0034]
Note that the equal connection processing unit 22 can be realized by executing a program including each step shown in the drawing, in addition to the case where the equal connection processing unit 22 is configured as hardware.
[0035]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when the wireless terminal accesses the accommodation device, the use information of each accommodation device is collected, and the accommodation device to be connected is selected based on the use information. It is possible to provide a wireless communication system and a wireless terminal capable of dispersing a load of an accommodation device and reducing bias of communication quality, and an accommodation device selection method and a program.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a wireless communication system according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an exemplary view showing a configuration of a Bluetooth terminal according to the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a situation where a Bluetooth terminal newly accesses an access point.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing that an access point responds to an ID packet transmitted by a Bluetooth terminal with an FHS packet.
FIG. 5 is a view for explaining selection of an access point to be connected to data held in a table.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing by an equal connection processing unit according to the embodiment;
[Explanation of symbols]
Reference Signs List 10 access point 20 Bluetooth terminal 21 Bluetooth module 22 equal connection processing unit 22A connection destination selection processing unit 22B terminal number table 22C automatic connection processing unit 30 Bluetooth device

Claims (6)

When one wireless terminal is present in a predetermined communicable range, a plurality of accommodation devices are present in the wireless terminal, and after establishing a communication path between the wireless terminal and the accommodation device by a predetermined procedure, the wireless terminal And a wireless communication system that performs communication between the accommodation device,
The wireless terminal collects usage information of each of the accommodation devices, and includes means for selecting an accommodation device to be connected based on the usage information prior to establishment of the communication path,
The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the accommodation device includes a unit that transmits a response for generating the usage information to the wireless device when the wireless device detects the wireless device. The wireless device according to claim 1, wherein, when the wireless device and the accommodation device comply with Bluetooth, the response is a minor device class added to a device class field in an FHS packet from the accommodation device. Communications system. When one wireless terminal is present in a predetermined communicable range, a plurality of accommodation devices are present in the wireless terminal, and after establishing a communication path between the wireless terminal and the accommodation device by a predetermined procedure, the wireless terminal And in the wireless terminal in a wireless communication system that performs communication between the accommodation device,
A wireless terminal comprising: means for collecting usage information of each of the accommodation devices, and for selecting an accommodation device to be connected to based on the usage information prior to establishment of the communication path. The wireless device and the accommodation device are a wireless communication system according to Bluetooth, and the usage information is obtained by using a minor device class added to a device class field in an FHS packet from the accommodation device as a response to detection by the wireless device. The wireless terminal according to claim 3, wherein the wireless terminal is generated. When there is one wireless terminal in a predetermined communicable range, in the wireless device accommodation device selection method in the wireless communication system in which a plurality of accommodation devices exist in the wireless terminal,
The wireless terminal collects use information of each of the accommodation devices, and selects an accommodation device to be connected based on the use information prior to establishment of a communication path between the wireless terminal and the accommodation device. How to select a storage device to be used. When there is one wireless terminal in a predetermined communicable range, a computer constituting the wireless terminal in a wireless communication system in which a plurality of accommodation devices exist in the wireless terminal,
A procedure for collecting usage information of each of the storage devices,
A procedure for selecting an accommodation apparatus to be connected based on the use information before establishing a communication path to the accommodation apparatus.

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