JP2008294944A - Wireless communication system, and method and device for wireless communication management - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve easy path building of multiplexed wireless communication, to obtain the connection state of a path in system operation, and to carry out setting change and connection switching of the path. <P>SOLUTION: A wireless communication management system 1 is constituted of a management device 2, a wireless terminal base station 3 and a plurality of wireless terminals 4. The state of wireless communication network constituted of a plurality of wireless terminals 4 is displayed on a screen 10 of the management device. The management device 2 is constituted of a communication part 5, a treatment part 6, a storage part 7, a display part 8 and an information input part 9, and carries out data communication through the base station 3 and the communication part 5. A communication path building part 11 of the management device 2 sets a communication path of the wireless terminal 4 through the communication part 5 and the base station 3 from data input from the information input part 9. A communication path obtaining part 12 obtains the communication state of the wireless terminal 4 and displays it on the screen 10 of a display part 8. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, a wireless communication management apparatus, and a wireless communication management method that are suitable for use in a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), a wireless PAN (Personal Area Network), and the like.

  For example, in a plant, various sensors are installed for the purpose of monitoring and controlling various devices. That is, a sensor for detecting abnormal heat generation or electric leakage is installed near the production machine, and a sensor for measuring the concentration of pollutants is installed at the exhaust port and the drainage groove. Furthermore, sensors that detect temperature, humidity, brightness, and the like are installed in offices and work sites. Data acquired by these various sensors is collected in a central operation room via a network and used for management of the entire plant.

  A conventional network in a plant is generally constructed by wired communication. However, in recent years, there have been many attempts to replace wired communication with wireless communication for the purpose of reducing wiring costs. Typical types of wireless communication are wireless LAN, UWB, ZigBee, BlueTooth, and the like. However, it is difficult to use general-purpose wireless communication as it is because a high reliability is required in a plant where communication interruption or equipment failure may lead to a major accident.

Therefore, in order to improve the reliability of wireless communication, a wireless path multiplexing method as shown in Patent Document 1 has been proposed. In order to visualize invisible wireless communication and facilitate management, a wireless network management method as shown in Patent Document 2 has also been proposed.
JP 2005-354626 A JP 2004-356777 A

  When multi-hop communication is performed by arranging a plurality of wireless terminals, it is necessary to set a parent-child relationship and a communication path between the wireless terminals. A mesh network is a typical network topology for radio path multiplexing. In general, a mesh network has a merit that a wireless terminal autonomously constructs a route, so that there is no need to set a fine route, but conversely, there is a demerit that an unexpected route is constructed. Although it is desirable to use the route as set by the system designer in the plant, there is a problem that route setting becomes complicated when the number of installed wireless terminals is large.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to facilitate setting and management of multiplexed communication paths in a wireless communication network system.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, a base station that directly communicates with a management apparatus is provided, a display means and an information input means are provided in the management apparatus, and a communication path of a wireless terminal on the network is defined Generating the route definition information for the base station, acquiring the communication state of the entire network from the base station and displaying it on the display means, and transmitting the route definition information generated based on this display to the base station to generate a plurality of wireless terminals It is characterized by managing the communication state.

  According to the present invention, when a wireless communication network system in which communication routes are multiplexed is constructed, the route definition information is generated using the display means and the information input means, thereby shortening the communication route setting time. Can do. In addition, a communication path can be arbitrarily set and changed from the management apparatus while the wireless network system is in operation.

[Example 1]
Hereinafter, Example 1 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a wireless communication management system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless communication management system 1 includes a management device 2, a wireless terminal base station 3 (hereinafter abbreviated as a base station), and a plurality of wireless terminals 4. In FIG. 1, a network topology in which a plurality of wireless terminals are connected in a tree shape with the base station 3 as a vertex is taken as an example, but other topologies such as a mesh type and a star type may be used. In FIG. 1, only the base station 3 directly connected to the management device 2 is shown, and the other wireless terminals 4 are omitted.

  In this example, as shown in FIG. 2A, as an application target, for example, a plant in which a large number of tanks and the like are arranged is assumed, and a wireless terminal 4 is provided in each of the tanks and the like. In addition to this, the present invention can also be applied to production line monitoring and management, as shown in FIG. 2B, monitoring and management of the passage of personnel and articles in a facility having a plurality of barriers.

  Therefore, in FIG. 1, the management device 2 includes a communication unit 5, a processing unit 6, a storage unit 7, a display unit 8, and an information input unit 9, and performs data communication with the base station 3 through the communication unit 5. Further, the function of the processing unit 6 to be described later, the function of setting the communication path of the wireless terminal 4 via the communication unit 5 and the base station 3 from the data input from the information input unit 9, and the communication state of the wireless terminal 4 Is acquired and displayed on the screen 10 of the display unit 8.

  Further, the base station 3 and the wireless terminal 4 have a function of performing wireless communication, and wireless terminals 4 that cannot be directly connected transmit and receive data by multi-hop communication. In this specification, the radio terminal 4 closer to the base station 3 is called a master station, and the far radio terminal 4 is called a slave station. The communication direction from the master station to the slave station is down, and The communication direction is called up. The communication unit 5 of the management device 2 has an interface for the management device 2 to connect to the base station 3 in a wired or wireless manner, and performs data communication with the base station 3.

  The processing unit 6 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and the like, and by executing a program stored in the storage unit 7, a basic function and functions of a communication path construction unit 11 and a communication path acquisition unit 12 described later are realized. To do. The basic function is a function of processing data from the communication unit 5 or the storage unit 7 and outputting it to the display unit 8, or processing data from the information input unit 9 and outputting it to the communication unit 5 or the storage unit 7. Although this function can be mentioned, since this processing can be realized according to a general known technique, detailed description thereof is omitted in this specification.

  The storage unit 7 holds a program executed by the processing unit 6 and functions as a work area of the processing unit 6, and holds route definition information 13 and route information 16 described later. The display unit 8 has a function for displaying information on the wireless terminal 4 processed by the processing unit 6 on the screen 10, and displays the connection state of the wireless terminal 4 on the screen 10 as shown in FIG. . The information input unit 9 has a function of inputting information from the screen 10 of the display unit 8, for example, and is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) using a so-called keyboard or mouse.

  Further, in FIG. 1, the solid line connecting the wireless terminals 4 displayed on the display unit 8 indicates that the communication path has the highest priority, and the broken line indicates an alternative path when the communication path having a high priority cannot be used. It is shown that. The alternative route is not necessarily required, and there may be a plurality of alternative routes set with a predetermined priority.

  In addition, the display unit 8 has a function of properly using the shape, color, visual effect, and the like of the line representing the wireless terminal 4 and the communication path according to the communication state of the system. Here, the communication state includes the path configuration of the wireless terminal 4, the connection status of each path, the communication load status, the communication error occurrence rate, and the like.

  The processing of the communication path construction unit 11 will be described in detail using the flowchart of FIG.

  When detecting the data input from the information input unit 9, the communication path construction unit 11 determines whether the content is an instruction to set the communication path of the wireless terminal 4 or an instruction to switch the communication path. (Processing S301). In the case of route setting (Yes), it is determined whether it is an instruction to newly construct a communication route of the wireless terminal 4 or an instruction to change a setting that has already been constructed (processing S302).

  Here, if it is an instruction to construct a new route (Yes), first, the addresses of all base stations 3 and wireless terminals 4 constituting the network are acquired (processing S303). As an address acquisition method, the address may be acquired from the information input unit 9 or information previously stored in the storage unit 7 may be used. In addition, the address may be acquired by directly communicating with the wireless terminal 4 via the base station 3. In this specification, an address is described as information for identifying a wireless terminal. However, any format may be used as long as the information can distinguish individual wireless terminals.

  A picture, figure, symbol, icon, or the like representing the wireless terminal 4 is displayed on the screen 10 of the display unit 8 based on the address acquired in the process S303 (process S304). For example, the icon of the wireless terminal 4 to which an address is added is displayed on the screen 10 as shown in FIG. 4A. Next, the route setting status of the wireless terminal 4 is displayed based on the input information from the information input unit 9 (processing S305). For example, by using a mouse on the screen 10 and dragging and dropping icons, the arrangement of the wireless terminals 4 is arbitrarily changed as shown in FIG. 4B.

  Here, for example, CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data simulating an actual plant as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B is displayed on the screen 10 of the display unit 8, and the user uses the mouse or the like on the screen 10. Convenience when dragging and dropping icons can also be achieved. In that case, the CAD data is created in advance when designing the plant, and the display on the screen 10 of the display unit 8 can be performed using a known technique. I will omit the explanation.

  Furthermore, a communication path is set by connecting the wireless terminals 4 with an arbitrary line. When drawing a line, as shown in FIG. 5A, the priority of the route may be set and the priority may be displayed on the route, or the line type may be changed according to the priority. Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, the parent-child relationship between the wireless terminals 4 may be expressed by arrows. In FIG. 5, the arrow indicates that the point indicated by the arrow is the master station of the wireless terminal 4, and the two-way arrows indicate the relationship between the parent station and the slave station.

  Next, route definition information 13 of the set route is created (processing S306). The route definition information 13 is information indicating the configuration and connection relationship of the wireless terminal 4. An example of the network route definition information 13 set as shown in FIG. 5 is as shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, the address is composed of the address of the wireless terminal 4, the address of the parent station connected to each wireless terminal 4, and the priority of the route connecting to the parent station.

  Here, for example, the wireless terminal 4 at address (11) (hereinafter abbreviated as wireless terminal 4 (11)) has the highest priority (assumed to be 1), and the master station at base station 3 at address (00) ( Hereinafter, the base station 3 (00) will be abbreviated), and the parent station having the next highest priority is the wireless terminal 4 (21). Then, the communication path construction unit 11 transmits the path definition information 13 to the base station 3 via the communication unit 5 (processing S307).

  If it is determined in step S302 that the route has been changed (No), the route change part and the change method are acquired from the information input unit 9 (step S308). Next, information on the route setting according to the changed part is displayed on the screen 10 (process S309). For example, when the route change is selected as the change method, and the change point is intended to be the route connecting the wireless terminal 4 (22) and the wireless terminal 4 (21), the line of the target route as shown in FIG. 7A. Is clicked with the mouse pointer 14. At this time, other routes and wireless terminals 4 that are affected by the change of the target route are highlighted.

  In the example of FIG. 7A, the route of the wireless terminal 4 (22) and its parent station are highlighted. FIG. 7B shows an example in which a wireless terminal 4 (41) is newly added as a changing method. In this case as well, the wireless terminal 4 that is a candidate for the master station of the wireless terminal 4 (41) is highlighted. In the drawings of this specification, the highlighting is simply indicated by a thick line or the like. However, the highlighting may be expressed by using a dynamic visual effect such as a difference in shape or color or blinking.

  Further, when the deletion of the wireless terminal 4 is selected as the change method, the route that is simultaneously deleted when the mouse pointer 14 is applied to the wireless terminal 4 to be deleted or clicked is highlighted and deleted. Be aware of the effects afterwards. For example, as shown in FIG. 8A, when the wireless terminal 4 (12) is to be deleted, a route that is simultaneously deleted is also highlighted. Further, as shown in FIG. 8B, when the wireless terminal 4 (21) is targeted for deletion, not only the route simultaneously deleted but also the wireless terminal 4 (22) whose highest priority route is deleted. Highlight.

  The communication path construction unit 11 acquires the change information determined on the screen 10 as described above from the information input unit 9 (processing S310). Here, when a problem occurs in the route setting due to the deletion of the wireless terminal 4 or the communication route, processing such as resetting the priority or complementing the route may be automatically performed.

  Further, FIG. 9 shows a deletion process of the wireless terminal 4 and the communication path. In FIG. 9, first, when the wireless terminal 4 on the screen 10 is deleted (process S901), it is determined whether or not there is a child terminal connected to the deleted wireless terminal 4 (process S902). . If it is determined in step S902 that there is a child terminal (Yes), it is determined whether a plurality of routes that can be connected to the parent remain in the child terminal (step S903).

  Here, if it is determined in step S903 that there is no remaining (No), a route that directly connects the parent terminal of the deleted wireless terminal 4 and the child terminal is newly generated (processing S904). In addition, when it determines with there being no child terminal in process S902 (No) and when it determines with remaining in process S903 (Yes), nothing is done.

  Furthermore, when there are a plurality of parent terminals of the wireless terminal 4, a route connecting to all the parent terminals may be generated, or only a route with the parent terminal having the highest priority may be generated. Finally, a route that has become unnecessary due to the deletion of the wireless terminal 4, that is, a route connecting the deleted wireless terminal 4 and its parent terminal is deleted (step S905), and all changes are reflected in the route definition information 13. (Processing S906).

  That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 10A, when the wireless terminal 4 (31) is deleted, the wireless terminal 4 (32) that is the child terminal has only a route connected to the wireless terminal 4 (21). . Therefore, a route that directly connects the wireless terminal 4 (32) and the base station 3 (00) that is the parent terminal of the wireless terminal 4 (31) is generated.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 10B, when the wireless terminal 4 (21) is deleted, a new route is not generated because a plurality of routes remain in the wireless terminal 4 (22) as a child terminal. However, since only one route remains in each of the wireless terminal 4 (12), the wireless terminal 4 (32), the wireless terminal 4 (11), and the wireless terminal 4 (31), the deleted wireless terminal 4 ( 21) A route directly connected to the base station 3 (00) which is the parent terminal is generated.

  As described above, the highest priority equivalent to the deleted route may be set for the newly generated route, or a predetermined priority may be set in advance. If the automatically set or supplemented route is not preferable, the desired route can be set again by executing the processing from step S308 in FIG. 3 again.

  Therefore, the communication path construction unit 11 determines whether or not all necessary path changes have been completed following the process S310 of FIG. 3 (process S311), and if completed (Yes), the path related to the changed path. The definition information 13 is updated (processing S312). Then, the communication path construction unit 11 transmits the updated path definition information 13 to the base station 3 via the communication unit 5 in step S307. Here, not the entire route definition information 13 but only the difference information related to the update may be transmitted to the base station 3.

  Furthermore, when it is determined in step S301 in FIG. 3 that route switching processing is necessary (No), a switchable route is displayed on the screen 10 of the display unit 8 (step S313). Here, the route switching is to switch the currently used route within the range of the communication route determined by the route definition information 13. Next, the communication path construction unit 11 acquires the selection result of the switching target path from the information input unit 9, and displays the candidates for the switching destination wireless terminal 4 according to the path definition information 13 (processing S314).

  Here, for example, it is assumed that a communication route is set according to the route definition information 13 shown in FIG. 6, and the currently used route is as shown by the solid line in FIG. 11A. In this case, as a switchable route, a route 15-1 connecting the wireless terminal 4 (12) and the wireless terminal 4 (11), and a route connecting the wireless terminal 4 (22) and the wireless terminal 4 (21). 15-2. Since there are three routes 15-3 connecting the wireless terminal 4 (32) and the wireless terminal 4 (31), these are highlighted.

  Next, for example, when the mouse pointer 14 is placed or clicked to select the route 15-2 as a switching target, as shown in FIG. 11B, the wireless terminal 4 (11), The wireless terminal 4 (21) and the wireless terminal 4 (31) are highlighted. However, the wireless terminal 4 (21) which is the current master station may not be highlighted. Further, when the route 15-2 is selected, the highlighting of the other routes 15-1 and 15-3 may be canceled or may be left as it is.

  Furthermore, the switching of the route is determined by switching the selected route to another wireless terminal 4 (processing S315). For example, as shown in FIG. 12, the route 15-2 is selected with the mouse pointer 14, and is connected to the wireless terminal 4 (11) by drag and drop. In this way, it is determined whether or not all the path switching decisions have been completed (step S316), and if completed (Yes), the communication path construction unit 11 issues a path switching command via the communication unit 5 to the base station. 3 (processing S317). If the process is not completed in step S316 (No), the process is repeated from step S313.

  As described above, the path definition information 13 and the accounting switching command transmitted to the base station 3 by the processing of the communication path construction unit 11 are transmitted from the base station 3 to each wireless terminal 4. Here, data is transmitted to the wireless terminal 4 that cannot be directly connected to the base station 3 by multi-hop communication.

  The processing of the communication path acquisition unit 12 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  When receiving data from the base station 3 via the communication unit 5, the communication path acquisition unit 12 extracts the address list of the wireless terminal 4 from the received data (processing S1301). The address list is the addresses of all the wireless terminals 4 that relayed the data when the wireless terminal 4 performs data communication with the base station 3 by multi-hop communication.

  For example, when the wireless terminal 4 (12) transmits data to the base station 3 via the wireless terminal 4 (11) and the wireless terminal 4 (21), the data frame 15 shown in FIG. 14A is first transmitted. . Here, the frame header includes a frame start code, a frame type, a frame length, a frame sequence number, and the like. The frame footer is a redundancy code such as CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check), a frame end code, or the like.

  The most recent transmission destination address is a transmission destination address when the directly connected wireless terminals 4 communicate with each other, and is address (11) in this example. The most recent transmission source address is the transmission source address when the directly connected wireless terminals 4 communicate with each other, and is address (12) in this example. The transmission destination address is the address of the wireless terminal 4 that is the final transmission destination of the data, and is the address (00) of the base station 3 in this example. The transmission source address is the address of the wireless terminal 4 that is the first transmission source of data, and in this example is the address (12).

  Further, the transmission data is a data body transmitted by the wireless terminal 4 (12), and examples thereof include sensing data and commands, but the content is not particularly limited. The address of the wireless terminal 4 that relays the data frame 15 is added to the address list. Here, there is no particular limitation on the type and arrangement of information included in the frame.

  When the wireless terminal 4 (11) receives the data frame 15 shown in FIG. 14A, the wireless terminal 4 (11) adds its own address to the address list, and the data frame 15 shown in FIG. ). Similarly, the wireless terminal 4 (21) adds its own address to the address list and transmits the data frame 15 shown in FIG. 14C to the base station 3 (00). As described above, the address of the wireless terminal 4 that relayed the data is added to the address list.

  After performing the process S1301, the communication path acquisition unit 12 determines whether or not the transmission source address of the received data is an address registered in the path information 16 (process S1302). Here, the route information 16 is information indicating the state of the communication route currently used by the wireless terminal 4. For example, as shown in FIG. 15A, there are the relationship between the address of the wireless terminal 4 that is the data transmission source or transmission destination and the address of the wireless terminal 4 that relays the data, the communication status of each route, and the like.

  FIG. 15A shows that the wireless terminal 4 (11) transmits and receives data only through the base station 3 (00). In addition, the communication status of the route between the wireless terminal 4 (11) and the base station 3 is currently in use (indicated by a circle in the figure), indicating that it has been used four times so far. . In addition to this example, the type of communication status of the route can be the number of communication failures, error rate, data arrival rate, radio wave intensity, communication quality, and the like.

  Similarly, the wireless terminal 4 (12) indicates that data is transmitted and received via the wireless terminal 4 (11) and the base station 3 (00), and the wireless terminal 4 (12) and the wireless terminal 4 (11) are shown. And the route between the wireless terminal 4 (11) and the base station 3 (00) are currently in use, indicating that they have been used five times so far. If the communication route acquisition unit 12 detects a wireless terminal 4 that is not registered in the route information 16 in step S1302 (No), the communication route acquisition unit 12 adds a new route to the route information 16 (step S1303). For example, in the case of the communication information shown in FIG. 15, information is added in the vertical direction.

  If the wireless terminal 4 is not newly detected in the process S1303, it is determined whether or not the route that can be derived from the address list is the same as that registered in the route information 16 (process S1304). If it is determined in step S1304 that they are the same (Yes), only the communication status of the route information 16 is updated (step S1305). If it is determined in step S1304 that they are not the same (No), the route information 16 is corrected and a route is deleted or added (step S1306).

  For example, when the route information 16 shown in FIG. 15A is registered and data is transmitted from the wireless terminal 4 (12) via the wireless terminal 4 (11) and the base station 3 (00). Since it completely matches the communication path registered in the path information 16, only the communication status is updated (the number of times of use is added). When data is transmitted from the wireless terminal 4 (22) via the wireless terminal 4 (11) and the base station 3 (00), information on the wireless terminal 4 (22) is already registered. However, since the communication routes do not match, the route of the wireless terminal 4 (22) is newly added to the route information 16.

  For example, the route information 16 is updated as shown in FIG. 15B. Here, no. For the old route registered in No. 4, it is only necessary to change the communication status to not in use (indicated by a cross in the figure), or to completely delete and overwrite the newly registered route. Also good.

  Next, the communication path acquisition unit 12 determines whether there is a wireless terminal 4 registered in the path information 16 that has not been used for a predetermined time or has not responded (step S1307). When the wireless terminal 4 that has not responded for a predetermined time is detected (Yes), the information of the corresponding wireless terminal 4 is deleted from the route information 16 or the communication status is changed to unused (processing S1308). . For example, when communication from the wireless terminal 4 (32) is interrupted for a certain period of time, as shown in FIG. Information on the wireless terminal 4 (32) 6 is deleted, or the communication status is changed to not used.

  Finally, based on the route information 16, the communication state of the wireless terminal 4 is displayed on the screen 10 of the display unit 8 (processing S1309). For example, when the route information 16 shown in FIG. 15A is registered, the state of the communication route with the wireless terminal 4 is displayed as shown in FIG. 16A. In FIG. 16A, the currently used route is indicated by a bold line, and the number of times the route is used is indicated by a direct number. For example, the communication path between the wireless terminal 4 (11) and the base station 3 (00) indicates that it has been used nine times in total.

  In addition to the method shown in FIG. 16A, the route currently in use may be expressed by using different visual effects such as line type, thickness, color, and blinking. Further, based on the above-described route definition information 13, the visual effect of a line indicating a route may be properly used according to the priority of the communication route. In FIG. 16A, the route with the highest priority is indicated by a solid line, and the route with a lower priority is indicated by a broken line.

  Similarly, when the route information 16 shown in FIG. 15B is registered, the state of the communication route with the wireless terminal 4 is displayed as shown in FIG. 16B. Here, for example, by highlighting the route between the wireless terminal 4 (11) and the base station 3 (00) where the frequency of use of the communication route has increased, it is possible to express the communication state visually and easily. . Further, the wireless terminal 4 (32) that has lost communication may be completely erased from the display, or may be displayed differently from the other wireless terminals 4 using visual effects such as transparent color.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when a wireless communication network system is constructed using a plurality of wireless terminals 4, it is possible to easily set a multiplex communication path by the management device 2 of the present invention. Become. Further, the management apparatus 2 of the present invention can monitor the communication status of the wireless terminal 4 in detail during system operation, and at the same time arbitrarily change the wireless communication path.

[Example 2]
Hereinafter, Example 2 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the wireless communication management system 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 17, the wireless communication management system 20 includes a management device 21, a plurality of base stations 3, and a plurality of wireless terminals 4. In FIG. 17, a network topology in which a plurality of wireless terminals 4 are connected in a tree shape with the base station 3 as a vertex is taken as an example, but other topology such as a mesh type or a star type may be used. In FIG. 17, only the base station 3 directly connected to the management apparatus 21 is shown, and the other wireless terminals 4 are omitted.

  The management apparatus 21 includes a plurality of communication units 5, a processing unit 6, a storage unit 7, a display unit 8, and an information input unit 9, and performs data communication via the base station 3 and the communication unit 5. Further, the function of the processing unit 6 to be described later, the function of setting the communication path of the wireless terminal 4 via the communication unit 5 and the base station 3 from the data input from the information input unit 9, and the communication state of the wireless terminal 4 Is acquired and displayed on the display unit 8.

  Each of the base station 3A and the base station 3B constitutes its own network group A (hereinafter abbreviated as group A) and network group B (hereinafter abbreviated as group B). Connected with. In this case, the communication path construction unit 11 creates or updates the path definition information 13 for each group and transmits it to the base station 3.

  The communication unit 5, the storage unit 7, the processing unit 6, the display unit 8, and the information input unit 9 have the same functions as those in the first embodiment, and thus description thereof is omitted here. Further, one communication unit 5 is not necessarily required for one base station 3. As shown in FIG. 18, if the communication method of the base station 3 is the same, the number of communication units 5 may be one. . Moreover, as shown in FIG. 18, the some base station 3 may comprise the same network group.

  The processing of the communication path construction unit 11 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  When detecting a data input from the information input unit 9, the communication path construction unit 11 determines whether the processing is on the group A side or the group B side (processing S1901). If it is determined that the group is on the side of Group A (Yes), a new construction of a communication path for Group A, a path change, or a path switching is performed (Processing S1902). Since this processing S1902 has been described with reference to FIG. 3 in the first embodiment, details thereof will be omitted. Next, the route definition information 13 of the group A or a route switching command is transmitted to the base station 3A (processing S1903).

  Next, it is determined whether or not processing relating to another network group is necessary (processing S1904). For example, as shown in FIG. 17, when the process for the wireless terminal 4 (100) connected to both the group A and the group B is necessary (No), the same process S1905 and the group B as well as the group A are performed. Processing S1906 is performed. Also, if it is determined in step S1901 that the group is not on the group A side (No), step S1905 and step S1906 are executed.

  In addition, although the example which used two network groups was shown here for simplicity, there is no restriction | limiting in the number of network groups. Also, regarding the processing of the communication path acquisition unit 12, after determining whether the group A alone, the group B alone, or both the group A and the group B, similarly to the communication path construction unit 11, The processing described in FIG. 13 of the first embodiment is executed for each group. Here, on the screen 10 of the display unit 8, the wireless terminal 4 and each communication path may be expressed for each group using different visual effects such as shape and color.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when a plurality of base stations 3 and wireless terminals 4 are used to construct a plurality of wireless communication network systems, the management apparatus 20 of the present invention sets a multiplexed communication path. It can be easily set. Further, by using only one management device 21 according to the present invention, it is possible to monitor the communication status of a plurality of network groups in detail during system operation and at the same time arbitrarily change the wireless communication path.

  Thus, according to the wireless communication system, the wireless communication management apparatus, and the wireless communication management method of the present invention, the display means and the information input means are provided, the communication state of the entire network is acquired from the base station, and is displayed on the display means. By setting the path definition information generated based on this display to the base station and managing the communication status of a plurality of radio terminals, it is possible to shorten the communication path setup time when constructing a radio communication network system Can do. Further, the communication path can be arbitrarily set and changed from the management apparatus while the wireless network system is in operation.

  In the first embodiment and the second embodiment described above, as a display example of the screen 10 of the display unit 8, only a one-screen two-dimensional display is used, but a plurality of screens or a three-dimensional display is used. You may do it. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the claims.

It is the block diagram which showed Example 1 of the radio | wireless communication management system which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the specific example of the plant etc. to which the radio | wireless communication management system which concerns on this invention was applied. It is the flowchart figure which showed the example of the process of a communication path construction part. It is the diagram which showed the example of the screen displayed when initializing the communication path | route of a radio | wireless terminal. It is the diagram which showed the example of the screen displayed when initializing the communication path | route of a radio | wireless terminal. It is the diagram which showed the example of the route definition information in a radio | wireless communication management system. It is the diagram which showed the example of the screen displayed when changing the setting of the communication path of a radio | wireless terminal. It is the diagram which showed the example of the screen displayed when changing the setting of the communication path of a radio | wireless terminal. It is the flowchart figure which showed the example of the process of a communication path construction part. It is the diagram which showed the example of the screen displayed after determining the setting change of the communication path of a radio | wireless terminal. It is the diagram which showed the example of the screen displayed when switching the communication path | route of a radio | wireless terminal. It is the diagram which showed the example of the screen displayed after determining the communication path switching of a radio | wireless terminal. It is the flowchart figure which showed the example of the process of a communication path | route acquisition part. It is the diagram which showed the example of the structure of the data frame which a radio | wireless terminal transmits / receives. It is the diagram which showed the example of the route information in a radio | wireless communication management system. It is the diagram which showed the example of the screen which displayed the communication state of the radio | wireless terminal. It is the block diagram which showed Example 2 of the radio | wireless communication management system which concerns on this invention. It is the block diagram which showed Example 2 of the radio | wireless communication management system which concerns on this invention. It is the flowchart figure which showed the example of the process of a communication path | route acquisition part.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,20,21 ... Wireless communication management system, 2 ... Management apparatus, 3 ... Wireless terminal base station, 4 ... Wireless terminal, 5 ... Communication part, 6 ... Processing part, 7 ... Memory | storage part, 8 ... Display part, 9 ... Information input unit, 10 ... screen, 11 ... communication route construction unit, 12 ... communication route acquisition unit, 13 ... route definition information, 14 ... mouse pointer, 15 ... data frame, 16 ... route information

Claims (18)

The wireless terminal includes a plurality of wireless terminals that communicate with each other by wireless signals and a management apparatus that manages a network constructed by the wireless terminals, and at least one of the wireless terminals is a base station that directly communicates with the management apparatus A wireless communication system,
The management device is provided with a display unit and an information input unit, and generates route definition information for defining a communication route of the wireless terminal on the network,
The management device includes a communication path acquisition unit that acquires a communication state of the entire network from the base station and displays the communication state on the display unit, and a communication path construction unit that transmits the path definition information to the base station,
The wireless communication system, wherein the management device manages communication states of a plurality of the wireless terminals via the base station. The management device includes a priority route setting unit that selects a route on the network according to a priority when connecting the wireless terminals to each other, and the communication route between the wireless terminals via the base station The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein an instruction for setting and / or changing the communication path is transmitted. The management apparatus acquires route information indicating a communication state of the wireless terminal from the base station, and depending on a connection state and / or a use state of the route information, an image shape / The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of line type / color / visual effect is changed and displayed on the display means. The management device displays an image showing the wireless terminal and / or the communication path on the display means, and operates the image on the display means with the information input means, thereby setting the route of the wireless terminal and / or Or the information regarding a change is input. The radio | wireless communications system of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the management device collects communication information of the wireless terminal configuring the network from the base station and acquires a connection state of a communication path of the wireless terminal. . A plurality of the base stations, the base station constructs a plurality of radio communication networks different from the radio terminals,
The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the management device individually manages the plurality of wireless communication networks. A wireless communication management device that manages a network by directly communicating with at least one of a plurality of wireless terminals that communicate with each other by wireless signals,
Generate route definition information for defining a communication route of the wireless terminal by display means and information input means,
A wireless communication management apparatus comprising: a communication path construction unit that transmits to the wireless terminal; and a communication path acquisition unit that acquires a communication state of the entire network from the wireless terminal and displays the communication state on a display unit. A priority route setting means for selecting a route on the network according to a priority when connecting the wireless terminals to each other;
The wireless communication management device according to claim 7, wherein the state of the communication path between the wireless terminals is acquired via the base station, and an instruction to set and / or change the communication path is transmitted. Obtaining route information indicating the communication status of the wireless terminal from the base station, and depending on the connection status and / or usage status of the route information, the shape / line type / color / The wireless communication management device according to claim 7, wherein at least one of visual effects is changed and displayed on the display unit. By displaying an image showing the wireless terminal and / or the communication path on the display means, and operating the image on the display means by the information input means, information on route setting and / or change of the wireless terminal is obtained. The wireless communication management device according to claim 7, wherein the wireless communication management device is input. The radio communication management apparatus according to claim 7, wherein communication information of the radio terminal configuring the network is collected from the base station, and a connection state of a communication path of the radio terminal is acquired. A plurality of the base stations, the base station constructs a plurality of radio communication networks different from the radio terminals,
The wireless communication management device according to claim 7, wherein the plurality of wireless communication networks are individually managed. The wireless terminal includes a plurality of wireless terminals that communicate with each other by wireless signals and a management apparatus that manages a network constructed by the wireless terminals, and at least one of the wireless terminals is a base station that directly communicates with the management apparatus A wireless communication management method for a wireless communication network, comprising:
Providing display means and information input means in the management device, generating route definition information for defining a communication route of the wireless terminal on the network,
Obtaining the communication state of the entire network from the base station and displaying it on the display means of the management device, transmitting the generated route definition information to the base station,
A wireless communication management method, comprising: managing communication states of a plurality of the wireless terminals via the base station. When connecting the wireless terminals to each other, perform priority route setting to select a route on the network according to priority,
The wireless communication management method according to claim 13, wherein a state of the communication path between the wireless terminals is acquired via the base station, and an instruction to set and / or change the communication path is transmitted. Obtaining route information indicating the communication status of the wireless terminal from the base station, and depending on the connection status and / or usage status of the route information, the shape / line type / color / The wireless communication management method according to claim 13, wherein at least one of visual effects is changed and displayed. By displaying an image showing the wireless terminal and / or the communication path on the display means, and operating the image on the display means by the information input means, information on route setting and / or change of the wireless terminal is obtained. The wireless communication management method according to claim 13, wherein the wireless communication management method is input. The wireless communication management method according to claim 13, wherein communication information of the wireless terminal configuring the network is collected from the base station, and a connection state of a communication path of the wireless terminal is acquired. A plurality of the base stations, the base station constructs a plurality of radio communication networks different from the radio terminals,
The wireless communication management method according to claim 13, wherein the plurality of wireless communication networks are individually managed.

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