JP2004336638A - Radio communication apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent illegal electric waves from being radiated by automatically judging whether or not the electric waves are within the communication frequencies allowed to use. <P>SOLUTION: A radio communication circuit 2 is set to f1 to f2 in its usable frequency. A control device 1 makes a position on a map correspond to the current position using the map data 5 on the basis of the current position information detected by a position detector 3, reads a frequency usable at that position from a position-frequency correspondence table 6. Further, the control device switches the frequency to the usable communication frequency of the radio communication circuit 2 and sets the latter frequency provided that the former frequency can be dealt with by the latter frequency, while the control device sets the operation to transmission prohibition when the former frequency can not be dealt with. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a wireless communication device including a wireless communication circuit capable of performing wireless communication by switching and setting a communication frequency within a predetermined frequency band.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In general, communication frequencies used in wireless communication devices are set differently depending on the country, region, or difference between indoor and outdoor. In other words, the usable communication frequency range differs depending on the location, and may be limited in some cases.
[0003]
For example, in the wireless communication standard IEEE802.11a, the United States has three bands of 5.15 to 5.25 GHz, 5.25 to 5.35 GHz, and 5.725 to 5.825 GHz. It can also be seen that they are set to .15 to 5.25 GHz and 5.03 to 5.091 GHz outdoors (4.9 to 5.0 GHz will be added after 2007).
[0004]
For this reason, in wireless communication that uses different communication frequency bands depending on the area, when the user crosses the area, the user must manually switch to an available communication frequency or stop communication if there is no available communication frequency The current situation is to deal with it.
[0005]
Further, there are the following techniques similar to the above. For example, in the technique of switching communication frequency bands in a CDMA mobile phone, the mobile phone is switched to a communication frequency used in a region where the phone is used. Further, there is a television set in which the frequency of a channel that can be listened to is automatically set according to the region with respect to the reception frequency of the television.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the prior art described above, when the communication frequency of the wireless communication device owned by the user is in an area where it cannot be used, when it is assumed that the wireless communication device of the other party uses in that area Since communication cannot be performed unless switching is performed, the problem of emitting an illegal radio wave does not occur, but the problem occurs in the following cases.
[0007]
In other words, when a user brings a wireless communication device of the same type as a wireless communication device owned by a user to a certain area, they can communicate with each other, so that communication can be performed without any problem in the closed system. However, if the communication frequency being used is prohibited in the area, illegal radio waves will be emitted without recognizing the fact.
[0008]
It is sufficient that the user confirms the communication frequency that can be used at the place of use each time, and then performs communication.However, since the user has inadvertently forgotten or cannot know the communication frequency corresponding to the area, the above Such a situation may be caused.
[0009]
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to prevent unintentionally emitting illegal radio waves without having to be aware of whether or not the communication frequency is permitted to be used in the area. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wireless communication device capable of performing the above.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the current position information is obtained by the position information obtaining means, and the communication frequency set in the wireless communication circuit by the control means corresponds to the current position information obtained by the position information obtaining means. Since it is determined whether the current position corresponds to the communication frequency band that is allowed to be used, it is possible to automatically know whether or not the communication frequency that can be used at the current position is set. In addition, it is possible to suppress inadvertent emission of radio waves of a communication frequency that is not permitted.
[0011]
According to the invention of claim 2, in the above invention, when the control means determines that the communication frequency of the wireless communication circuit is not applicable, the communication permitted to be used at the current position. Since it is configured to set another communication frequency corresponding to the frequency band, it is possible to automatically set the communication frequency that can be used at the current position and perform communication, so it emits illegal radio waves unconsciously By doing so, wireless communication can be performed.
[0012]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, when the control means determines that the communication frequency settable by the wireless communication circuit does not correspond to the communication frequency band permitted to be used at the current position. Controls the communication by the wireless communication circuit to be prohibited. Therefore, when there is no usable communication frequency, by prohibiting the communication function, illegal radio waves can be prevented from being emitted.
[0013]
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in each of the above inventions, the position information acquiring means is configured to receive the position signal from the GPS satellite to specify the position, and thus can receive the position signal from the GPS satellite. At the place, the position of the user can be specified based on the received position signal. As a result, the position can be reliably recognized without providing the position information from the outside.
[0014]
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in each of the above-mentioned inventions, the frequency correspondence information storage means is provided to store information on communication frequency bands permitted to be used for each region. By reading the information of the communication frequency band that is permitted to be used in the corresponding area, the information can be recognized, and the communication frequency to be set can be quickly and reliably determined.
[0015]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows the entire block configuration, and in this block configuration, only the essential parts related to the operation of the present invention are shown. In FIG. 1, a control circuit 1 as a control means is provided with a ROM, a RAM, and the like mainly using a CPU, and is configured to perform control of switching setting of a communication frequency as described later.
[0016]
The wireless communication circuit 2 performs wireless communication via the antenna 2a. For example, a range of f1 to f2 (Hz) is set as a usable communication frequency, and some of the frequencies within the range are settable. The communication can be performed by appropriately switching to the communication frequency of
[0017]
The position detecting device 3 functions as position information acquiring means, and receives position signals from a GPS satellite (not shown) via a GPS antenna 3a to generate position data. The storage unit 4 is an information storage medium in which a map data storage area 5 and a position-frequency correspondence table area 6 as frequency correspondence information storage means are set. For example, a ROM, a flash RAM, a hard disk, a CDROM, a DVD, etc. Storage medium.
[0018]
Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 2 is a communication frequency setting program executed by the control device 1. Hereinafter, this program will be described briefly, and three cases that can actually occur will be specifically described.
[0019]
The control device 1 starts the communication frequency setting program of FIG. 2 at a timing such as when the power is turned on. First, the control device 1 receives a GPS signal through the position detection device 3, inputs a position detection signal, and acquires position information (step S1). Subsequently, the map data 5 is read, and the position on the map corresponding to the acquired position information is specified.
[0020]
Next, the control device 1 determines a communication frequency that is permitted to be used in accordance with the position acquired from the position-frequency correspondence table 6 (step S2). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the frequency of the communication frequency band corresponding to the current position is included in the range of usable frequencies f1 to f2, and if "YES", the frequency is switched to the frequency (step S3). , S4), in the case of “NO”, processing for prohibiting transmission is performed (steps S3, S5).
[0021]
As a result, the control device 1 switches and sets the wireless communication circuit 2 to a communication frequency that is compatible with the communication frequency permitted in the area within the range of the communication frequencies f1 to f2 that the wireless communication circuit 2 can use, Perform wireless communication. Then, if there is no compatible communication frequency, the communication is switched to the prohibited state.
[0022]
Next, a specific operation will be described assuming the following three cases.
(1) Case 1
In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, the wireless communication circuit 2 initially sets fo as the communication frequency, and is an example in which the detection result of the current position is the area A.
[0023]
The communication frequency fo set by the wireless communication circuit 2 is a communication frequency having a lower frequency band in a range of usable communication frequencies f1 to f2. The communication frequency fo is a communication frequency within the frequency band fa1 to fa2 permitted in the area A. Therefore, in step S4, the control device 1 does not need to actually perform the switching setting, and uses the communication frequency fo that has been initially set as it is.
[0024]
(2) Case 2
Next, as shown in the figure, the case where the wireless communication circuit 2 initially sets fo as the communication frequency and the detection result of the current position is the area B will be described.
[0025]
In this case, the communication frequency fo is out of the range of the communication frequency bands fb1 to fb2 permitted in the area B. Then, since the communication frequency in the range of usable communication frequencies f1 and f2 of the wireless communication circuit 2 cannot correspond to the communication frequency usable in the region B, the control device 1 determines “NO” in step S3. Then, the process proceeds to step S5, where processing for inhibiting transmission by the wireless communication circuit 2 is performed.
[0026]
(3) Case 3
Next, as shown in the figure, the case where the wireless communication circuit 2 initially sets fo as the communication frequency and the result of detection of the current position is the area C will be described.
[0027]
In this case, the communication frequency fo is out of the range of the communication frequency bands fc1 to fc2 permitted in the area C, but is different from the range of the communication frequencies f1 to f2 in which the wireless communication circuit 2 can be used. For example, by using the communication frequency fp, it becomes possible to adapt to the range of the communication frequency band permitted in the area C. Therefore, in step S4, the control device 1 switches the communication frequency of the wireless communication circuit 2 to fp and performs communication.
[0028]
According to the first embodiment, the control device 1, the position detection device 3, and the storage unit 4 are provided, and the communication frequency range f1 to f2 that can be set by the wireless communication circuit 2 is set to Automatically determines the range of communication frequencies allowed at the current location of the device and switches to that frequency if there is an available communication frequency, and disables transmission if it does not exist As a result, the user can automatically use an appropriate communication frequency or be in a prohibited state without inadvertently emitting an illegal radio wave.
[0029]
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be modified or expanded as follows.
In the above embodiment, the map data storage unit 5 has a configuration in which the map data is internally provided, but may be configured to be obtained from outside.
Further, the position-frequency correspondence table 6 may be provided internally as in this embodiment, or may be obtained from the outside.
[0030]
Although the execution of the program in FIG. 2 by the control device 1 is performed when the power is turned on, the control device 1 may automatically execute the program at an appropriate timing, or may be configured to execute the program artificially.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an electrical block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a program for frequency switching setting. FIG.
1 is a control device (control means), 2 is a wireless communication circuit, 3 is a position detection device (position information acquisition means), 4 is a storage unit, 5 is a map data storage unit, and 6 is a position-frequency correspondence table storage unit. .

Claims (5)

In a wireless communication device including a wireless communication circuit capable of performing wireless communication by switching and setting a communication frequency within a predetermined frequency band range,
Position information obtaining means for obtaining current position information;
It is determined whether or not the communication frequency set in the wireless communication circuit corresponds to a communication frequency band permitted to be used at a current position corresponding to the current position information acquired by the position information acquiring unit. A wireless communication device comprising a control unit. The wireless communication device according to claim 1,
The control means sets another communication frequency corresponding to a communication frequency band permitted to be used at the current position when the determination result indicates that the communication frequency of the wireless communication circuit does not correspond. A wireless communication device characterized in that: The wireless communication device according to claim 2,
The control means controls to prohibit communication by the wireless communication circuit when a settable communication frequency of the wireless communication circuit does not correspond to a communication frequency band permitted to be used at the current position. A wireless communication device. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the position information acquiring unit is configured to receive a GPS signal as a position signal to specify a position. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A wireless communication device comprising a frequency corresponding information storage means for storing information on communication frequency bands that are permitted to be used by region.

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