JP2005151226A - Wireless slave unit and method of installing wireless slave unit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wireless slave unit that is easy to install, and a method of installing the wireless slave unit. <P>SOLUTION: In a wireless slave unit 10 which is connected to an indoor terminal by a cable and installed outdoors for performing radio communication outdoors and in which an electronic circuit including a CPU is incorporated and an antenna is integrated, a plurality of light emitting diodes 12 are juxtaposed and the emissions of these light emitting diodes 12 are combined to indicate the reception strengths of radio waves as a bar graph. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless slave for an outdoor wireless LAN, and relates to a wireless slave that can be easily installed and a method for installing the wireless slave.

  In an outdoor wireless LAN using 5 GHz band radio waves, a wireless slave connected to an indoor terminal such as a personal computer is installed outdoors. An electronic circuit (referred to as hardware) including a CPU is built in the wireless slave unit, and wired communication with an indoor terminal and wireless communication with an outdoor base station are controlled by this hardware and executed software. In order to widen the communication area of the base station without changing the radio wave output intensity at the base station, it is important to increase the sensitivity of the wireless slave unit, and as part of this, shorten the distance between the wireless slave unit and the antenna. In order to reduce feeder loss, an antenna may be integrated with the wireless slave unit. The antenna-integrated wireless slave device 60 shown in FIG. 6 has a rectangular parallelepiped casing 61, and hardware is housed inside the casing 61, and the antenna is located inside the casing 61 or on the surface of the casing 61. It is attached. The wireless slave device 60 is connected to the indoor terminal 63 by a cable 62.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the wireless slave device 70 includes an indoor terminal 71 and a PoE unit 73 that is an interface to the UTP cable 72 from the AC 100V power source, a wired communication unit 74, a CPU 75, a wireless communication unit 76, An antenna 77 is included. The UTP cable 72 is a combination of a communication line from the indoor terminal 71, an AC 100 V line, and a home unit 78.

  Needless to say, when installing the wireless slave unit, it is necessary to set the antenna in the direction with the highest sensitivity. When the antenna is integrated with the wireless slave unit, the antenna cannot be moved alone, and the attitude of the wireless slave unit is adjusted. In order to make the position of the wireless slave unit the best antenna sensitivity, it is necessary to monitor the reception intensity of radio waves.

  Conventionally, a function to display the received strength (RSSI) on the monitor is installed in the personal computer of the installer, and this personal computer is connected to the wireless slave unit instead of the indoor terminal. The wireless handset is fixed to the building in a posture with the strongest reception strength. If the above function is installed in an indoor terminal, it is not preferable because the installer operates the indoor terminal that is a user's belonging or imposes a burden on the user.

  In wireless devices other than the outdoor wireless LAN, the following methods are used for installing an antenna or monitoring radio wave reception intensity.

  In the case of an antenna for a terrestrial broadcast TV, a Yagi antenna is generally installed. First of all, the direction of the antenna (the side with the short antenna element) should be pointed in the approximate direction of arrival of the radio wave that is registered in advance, this antenna is connected to the TV receiver, and the power of the TV receiver is turned on. And finely adjust the direction of the antenna by checking the video and audio status.

  The mobile phone terminal is provided with a scale for displaying the radio wave reception intensity in three stages on the liquid crystal display screen. By looking at this scale, it is possible to know whether or not the terminal is in the service area and whether or not sufficient communication is possible.

  Patent Document 1 discloses that a terminal of a wireless network includes means for displaying a reception state of transmission state measurement information from a base station.

  Patent Document 2 discloses that a single display element is provided in a mobile terminal, and this display element is lit at the time of transmission, flashes periodically at the time of reception, and flashes at a different period at the time of abnormality.

JP-A-7-143666 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-213947

  In the case of an outdoor wireless LAN, an antenna is not connected to a terminal having a display function such as the above-described mobile phone or wireless network terminal. In addition, the indoor terminal is not a device that can obtain a desired video immediately when the power is turned on, such as a TV receiver, and cannot easily display a monitor screen. Furthermore, the indoor terminal is owned by the user and cannot be operated by the installer.

  Even if there is a monitor personal computer, the installer is not always skilled in operating the personal computer, so it is difficult to activate the monitor software and proceed with the work. This method is not preferable because it requires advanced personal computer knowledge for the installer.

  In addition, the wireless slave unit of the outdoor wireless LAN has a direction (directivity) in the antenna. For this reason, unlike the case where the antenna is omnidirectional as in the case of a mobile phone terminal, it is important to adjust the mounting posture of the wireless slave unit. However, since it is unknown in which direction the nearest base station is, unlike the case of TV radio waves, it is impossible to determine the direction of arrival of radio waves. It is not easy to guess the direction of the antenna. Therefore, it is not known how the adjustment starts from a state where the antenna direction and the radio wave arrival direction are different. Therefore, it is desirable that the radio wave reception intensity can be recognized even at a level where communication is not possible.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems and provide a wireless slave device that is easy to install and a method for installing the wireless slave device.

  In order to achieve the above object, an apparatus according to the present invention is a wireless slave unit that is wired to an indoor terminal and installed outdoors to perform wireless communication outdoors, and includes an electronic circuit including a CPU and an integrated antenna. A plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged, and lighting of these light emitting diodes is combined to display the radio wave reception intensity in a bar graph.

  There may be five light emitting diodes.

  The abnormal state may be displayed by combining lighting of the light emitting diodes in a combination not included in the bar graph display.

  In addition, the method of the present invention is a method of mounting the wireless slave unit in a state where the wireless slave unit is turned on when the wireless slave unit is attached to a support member for fixing and supporting the wireless slave unit in the air. , And the wireless handset is fixed in a posture where the bar graph by the light emitting diode is maximized.

  The present invention exhibits the following excellent effects.

  (1) Since the reception strength is displayed on the wireless slave unit, the optimum mounting posture can be easily found.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a wireless slave device 10 according to the present invention is a wireless slave device in which an electronic circuit (referred to as hardware) including a CPU is incorporated and an antenna (not shown) is integrated. The wireless slave device 10 has a rectangular parallelepiped housing 11, hardware is housed inside the housing, and an antenna is attached to the inside of the housing or the surface of the housing. Five light-emitting diodes 12 are arranged in a straight line on one side of the housing 11, and the reception intensity of radio waves is displayed in a bar graph by combining lighting of these five light-emitting diodes 12. The casing 11 has “POWER” indicating reception intensity and numbers “1” to “5” that are numbers in the order of arrangement of the light emitting diodes 12. Hereinafter, each light-emitting diode 12 may be identified by the same symbol as this number.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the main parts related to the monitor of the wireless slave device 10 according to the present invention are an antenna 21 not shown in FIG. 1, a wireless unit 22 that transmits and receives radio waves via the antenna 21, and a wireless unit. 22 includes a signal processing unit 23 that generates a signal representing the radio wave reception intensity and an LED control unit 24 that combines lighting of the five light emitting diodes 12 according to the signal. The main parts related to communication are the same as those in FIG. 7, and the signal processing unit 23 and the LED control unit 24 can be realized by the CPU 75 in FIG.

  The present invention is obtained by adding a function capable of displaying a radio wave reception intensity (RSSI) to the conventional wireless slave shown in FIG. That is, the signal processing unit 23 generates a signal representing the radio wave reception intensity in the radio unit 22 in five levels, and the LED control unit 24 displays the five levels in a bar graph. Bar graph display means that when a numerical value from 1 to 5 is given to the light-emitting diodes 1 to 5 arranged in numerical order, all the light-emitting diodes having numbers less than or equal to the numerical value are turned on, and the connected light-emitting diodes are connected. It is a display method that expresses numerical values by length. Also called meter display.

  The five levels of received strength are RSSI values (rounded after the decimal point) of 10 dB or less at level 1, 11 dB or more and 20 dB or less at level 2, 21 dB or more and 30 dB or less at level 3, 31 dB or more and 40 dB or less at level 4, 40 dB or more. Level 5 is assumed.

  As a result, the light emitting diode 12 is lit in any combination of the five types of combinations shown in FIG. For example, if the RSSI value is 10 dB or less, only the light emitting diode 1 is turned on because the level is 1, and if the RSSI value is 11 dB or more and 20 dB or less, only the light emitting diodes 1 and 2 are turned on because the level is 2. In the figure, the hatched light-emitting diodes are lit.

  Next, the attachment structure of the wireless slave unit will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 4A to FIG. 4C, the wireless slave device 40 according to the present invention has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped casing 41, and hardware is housed inside the casing 41. An antenna (not shown) is attached inside the housing 41. A display window 42 made of a transparent plate is formed on one side of the housing 41, and five light emitting diodes (not shown) are arranged in a straight line at the position of the display window 42 inside the housing 41. The details of the arrangement of the light emitting diodes are the same as those in FIG. 1, and the bar graph is displayed as shown in FIG.

  On the opposite side surface of the housing 41, a connector 54 for connecting a cable 53 from an indoor terminal is provided, and an elevation angle adjusting attachment 43 is attached. The elevation angle adjusting fixture 43 has a shaft hole 44 and an arc hole 45 forming a part of a circle centered on the shaft hole 44, and an elevation scale is formed on the outer periphery of the arc hole 45. The shaft hole 44 is inserted with a bolt 47 for supporting the elevation angle adjusting attachment 43 so as to be rotatable up and down with respect to an orientation adjusting attachment 46 described later. In FIG. 4A, this bolt 47 is omitted. The arc hole 45 is inserted with a bolt 48 for fixing the elevation angle adjusting fixture 43 to the azimuth adjusting fixture 46 at a desired elevation angle position. The azimuth adjusting attachment 46 has a hole (not shown) through which the bolt 47 is inserted at a position overlapping the shaft hole 44 and the circular arc hole 45 and holds the azimuth adjusting attachment 46 to the pole 49 by gripping a pole 49 described later. A gripping tool 50 is provided. The gripping tool 50 is configured such that curved plate members 51 and 55 are opposed to each other and both ends of each plate member 51 and 55 are connected by bolts 52, and a pole 49 is sandwiched between these plate members 51 and 55.

  The pole 49 is a support member for fixing and supporting the wireless slave device 40 in the air, and is fixed and attached in advance to a building, a column, or other structures. The pole 49 is a cylinder (or a column) and is provided perpendicular to the horizontal plane.

  In the temporarily fixed state in which the bolt 52 is loosely tightened, the gripping force of the gripping tool 50 is appropriately weak, so that the wireless slave unit 40 does not slide down, but the wireless slave unit 40 is rotated around the pole 49. Can do. Thereby, the orientation can be adjusted. In addition, in the temporarily fixed state in which the bolts 47 and 48 are loosely tightened, the wireless slave device 40 can be rotated up and down because it can be rotated up and down with respect to the elevation adjustment fixture 43 orientation adjustment fixture 46. . Thereby, the elevation angle can be adjusted. When the bolt 52 and the bolts 47 and 48 are firmly tightened, the wireless slave device 40 is fixed.

  Although the tilt angle cannot be adjusted in the example of FIG. 4, it is needless to say that a structure capable of adjusting the tilt angle may be added if necessary.

  Next, a method for attaching the wireless slave unit will be described.

  First, the pole 49 as a support member is installed, for example, under the eaves of a house or on a veranda. Next, the wireless slave device 40 is temporarily fixed to the pole 49 and the wireless slave device 40 is turned on. At this time, if the wireless slave unit 40 has a power source independent of the indoor terminal, the cable 53 need not be connected. When the wireless slave unit 40 is supplied with power through the cable 53, the cable 53 is connected.

  When power is supplied to the wireless slave device 40, the radio wave reception intensity is displayed in a bar graph by the light emitting diode as described above. While looking at this bar graph, the above-mentioned azimuth adjustment and elevation angle adjustment are performed. Since the posture where the bar graph is maximized is the posture with the highest reception intensity, the wireless slave device 40 is fixed in that posture.

  The above installation work can be easily performed by anyone without requiring advanced technology such as operation of a personal computer. Further, since the light emitting diode is provided in the housing 41 of the wireless slave device 40, it is very easy to move the posture of the wireless slave device 40 while watching this light emitting diode, and it is possible by one person. Since one of the light emitting diodes is lit even when the reception intensity is at the lowest level, the adjustment can be started from any position of the wireless slave unit 40 even if the direction of arrival of the radio wave is not found.

  In the above embodiment, the reception intensity is displayed as a bar graph using light emitting diodes. However, the reception intensity may be displayed stepwise depending on the intensity or pitch of the buzzer sound. Further, in order to save power consumption, a bar graph may be displayed for a predetermined time, for example, one hour after the power is turned on, and then all the lights may be turned off. Further, a switch for turning off all the light emitting diodes may be provided.

  Next, the form which displays an abnormal state with a light emitting diode is demonstrated.

  Here, the external appearance and mounting structure of the wireless slave unit are as described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4, and the bar graph display as described with reference to FIG. 3 is performed at the time of installation. It is designed to light up in the combination shown in.

  For this purpose, the LED control unit 24 in FIG. 2 combines lighting of the five light-emitting diodes 12 according to a signal from the abnormality detection unit (not shown) (by abnormality type) in addition to the signal from the signal processing unit 23.

  As shown in FIG. 5, when the communication is abnormal, only the light emitting diodes 1 and 5 are lit. The communication abnormality includes communication failure indicating that communication in the outdoor wireless LAN is not possible or disconnection in the middle, authentication abnormality due to a difference in SSID (service set ID) or WEP (authentication key), and the like. . This event can be detected by a CPU not shown in FIG. 2 in the course of communication control.

  When the software is abnormal, only the light emitting diodes 1, 2 and 5 are lit. Software anomalies include program anomalies, bug anomalies, and software anomalies that do not return to normal even when the power is reset. This event can detect that the execution of the program is not normal with detection software or detection hardware dedicated to the event.

  When the hardware abnormality is I, only the light emitting diodes 1, 2, 3, and 5 are lit. The hardware abnormality I indicates that a failure or connection failure of the electronic circuit including the CPU has been detected by detection software or detection hardware dedicated to the event. For example, a memory check is periodically performed by the CPU, and a hardware abnormality I is determined when there is no response from the memory within a predetermined time.

  In the case of hardware abnormality II, all the light emitting diodes are turned off. The hardware abnormality II indicates that the power is turned off, that is, the power is not supplied to the wireless slave unit 10. Since the light emitting diode is not lit unless the power is supplied to the wireless slave device 10, this combination is suitable for displaying power off. If at least one light emitting diode is lit, it is clear that at least the power is on.

  As described above, since the light emitting diodes 12 are lit in various combinations when an abnormality occurs, the user can know the details of the abnormality. There are 32 combinations of lighting of the five light emitting diodes. Among them, since five combinations are assigned to the bar code display, the remaining 27 patterns including the combinations shown in FIG. 5 can be used for the abnormal state display.

It is a front view of the radio | wireless subunit | mobile_unit which shows one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of the principal part of the radio | wireless subunit | mobile_unit which shows one Embodiment of this invention. It is the lighting combination figure of the light emitting diode which shows one Embodiment of this invention. It is (a) side view, (b) top view, and (c) front view of the wireless slave device showing an embodiment of the present invention. It is the lighting combination figure of the light emitting diode which shows one Embodiment of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram of a radio | wireless subunit | mobile_unit and an indoor terminal. It is a block diagram of the principal part of a wireless cordless handset.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Radio | wireless subunit | mobile_unit 11 Case 12 Light emitting diode 21 Antenna 22 Radio | wireless part 23 Signal processing part 24 LED control part

Claims (4)

  In a wireless slave unit that is connected to an indoor terminal in a wired manner for wireless communication outdoors and has an electronic circuit including a CPU and an integrated antenna, a plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged and the light emitting diodes are turned on. A wireless handset that displays the received signal strength in a bar graph in combination.   The wireless handset according to claim 1, wherein the number of the light emitting diodes is five.   The wireless slave device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the abnormal state is displayed by combining the lighting of the light emitting diodes in a combination not in the bar graph display. When the wireless slave unit is attached to a support member for fixing and supporting the wireless slave unit in the air, the wireless slave unit is moved with the power on, and the light emitting diode bar is moved. An installation method for a wireless slave unit, wherein the wireless slave unit is fixed in a posture in which the graph is maximized.

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