JP2009010977A - Wireless terminal device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To expand scale of a wireless communication system without requiring considerable cost increase. <P>SOLUTION: A relay 1 is provided between a slave unit 3A, 3B and a master unit 2 that are targets of relay. By means of a data transfer means 11A of the relay 1, data transmitted from the slave unit 3A, 3B or the master unit 2 are received and temporarily stored in a storage section 13, and the stored data are read from the storage section 13 and transferred to the master unit 2 or the slave unit 3A, 3B. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless terminal device, and more particularly to a wireless terminal device used in a wireless communication system that collects desired data from a plurality of wireless terminal devices to a wireless base station via a wireless line.

  Acquired by each wireless terminal device as a wireless communication system consisting of a plurality of wireless terminal devices connected to a wireless base station via a wireless line based on wireless systems such as specified low power wireless, Bluetooth, cordless wireless, and wireless LAN. There is a system that collects collected data in one communication base station (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In such a wireless communication system, there may be a case where communication connection between devices may be impossible due to attenuation of communication signals or noise interference between wireless terminal devices that are capable of data communication directly via a communication line. For example, when a new wireless terminal device is added to a relatively distant place in the existing wireless communication system or the communication environment of the existing wireless terminal device deteriorates, wireless connection becomes impossible.
Conventionally, in such a case, a new wireless base station capable of communicating with a wireless terminal device that cannot be wirelessly connected to an existing wireless base station is provided, and a new wireless base station can request from these wireless base stations. It was intended to collect data.

JP-A-11-168777

However, in such a conventional wireless communication system, it is necessary to separately provide a new wireless base station in order to collect data from wireless terminal devices whose wireless connection is impossible due to the expansion of the system scale. There was a problem that the cost was significantly increased. In particular, when data collected by a radio base station is collected and used by a remote center device via a public communication network, not only the equipment cost of the radio base station itself but also the line use cost of the public communication network increases. There was also a problem.
The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wireless terminal device capable of expanding the scale of a wireless communication system without requiring a significant cost increase.

  In order to achieve such an object, a wireless terminal device according to the present invention is used in a wireless communication system that exchanges various data via wireless communication between a plurality of wireless terminal devices and a wireless base station. A wireless terminal device that relays and transfers data exchanged between the wireless terminal device and the wireless base station, stores wireless communication means for performing wireless communication with other wireless terminal devices and wireless base stations, and stores various data A storage unit, a data relay unit that temporarily stores data received by the wireless communication unit in the storage unit, reads the stored data from the storage unit, and transfers the data to a destination of the data via the wireless communication unit, and a wireless base station And a connection confirmation means for confirming whether or not the wireless connection between the wireless communication apparatus and the self-apparatus is possible, the data relay means monitors the data transmitted from other wireless terminal apparatuses by the wireless communication means, If the transfer request information requesting relay transfer is included in the data of the wireless device, after confirming the wireless connection possibility between the wireless base station as the data transmission destination and the own device by the connection confirmation means, The transfer permission data is transmitted to the other wireless terminal device via the communication means, and the data transmitted from the other wireless terminal device is transferred accordingly.

  At this time, an address management table for managing a MAC address unique to another wireless terminal device to be relayed is further provided, and the data relay means, the connection confirmation means, and the wireless base station as the data transmission destination and the own device After confirming that wireless connection is possible, the MAC address of the other wireless terminal device is registered in the address management table as a relay target and transmitted from the other wireless terminal device received by the wireless communication means to the wireless base station. The data may be transferred to the radio base station only when the transmission source address assigned to the data matches one of the MAC addresses registered in the address management table.

  According to the present invention, it is not necessary to separately provide a new radio base station in order to collect data from a slave unit that cannot be wirelessly connected to an existing radio base station. Further, even when data collected by a radio base station is collected and used by a center device at a remote location via a public communication network, an increase in line use cost can be avoided. Therefore, the scale of the wireless communication system can be expanded without requiring a significant cost increase.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[Configuration of First Embodiment]
First, a radio terminal apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a wireless terminal apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
Hereinafter, as a wireless communication system in which the wireless terminal device according to the present embodiment is used, a plurality of wireless terminal devices (hereinafter referred to as slave units) 3A, 3B, 3C and one wireless base station (hereinafter referred to as a base unit) are used. A wireless communication system in which the parent device 2 collects various data from each of the child devices 3A, 3B, 3C by performing data communication with the wireless device 2 via a wireless line will be described as an example.

  This wireless terminal device (hereinafter referred to as a repeater) 1 is installed in a place where it can communicate with both of the child devices 3A and 3B and the parent device 2 to be relayed via a wireless line. In this case, originally, the slave units 3A and 3B can directly perform data communication with the master unit 2. However, since the distance from the master unit 2 is far (out of the communication range), the radio signal is attenuated and directly It is assumed that data communication with the machine 2 is not possible. The handset 3C has a relatively short distance from the base unit 2 (communication range) and can directly perform data communication with the base unit 2.

The repeater 1 includes a control unit 11, a wireless communication interface unit (hereinafter referred to as a wireless communication I / F unit) 12, a storage unit 13, a display unit 14, and an operation input unit 15.
The control unit 11 includes a microprocessor such as a CPU and its peripheral circuits, and implements various functional units by executing a program stored in advance in the storage unit 13 or the CPU.

As this functional means, a data transfer means 11A and an address registration means 11B are provided.
When the data transfer unit 11A receives data from the slave units 3A and 3B to be relayed by the wireless communication I / F unit 12, the data transfer unit 11A replaces the MAC address indicating the transmission destination and the transmission source and replaces the wireless communication I / F. When the wireless communication I / F unit 12 relays and transfers data from the base unit 12 to the base unit 2 and the wireless communication I / F unit 12 receives the data, the wireless communication I / F unit replaces the MAC address indicating the transmission destination and the transmission source. 12 is relay-transferred to the slave units 3A and 3B.
Further, the address registration means 11B registers the MAC addresses of the slave devices 3A and 3B to be relayed with the own device, and registers the MAC addresses of the own devices and the relay MAC addresses of the slave devices 3A and 3B with the master device 2. Process.

The wireless communication I / F unit 12 transmits and receives wireless signals based on wireless systems such as specific low power wireless, Bluetooth, cordless wireless, and wireless LAN, so that the wireless communication I / F unit 12 can communicate with the slaves 3A and 3B and the master 2 A circuit unit that performs wireless communication.
The storage unit 13 includes a storage device such as a memory and a hard disk. The control unit 11 includes an address management table 13A for managing MAC addresses used for relaying the slave units 3A and 3B, and the control unit 11 such as the MAC address of the own device and the master unit 2. Various types of information used for the processing in is stored. An internal memory of the CPU may be used as the memory.
The display unit 14 includes a display device such as an LED, and is a circuit unit that displays an operation state of the repeater 1.
The operation input unit 15 includes operation switches such as DIP switches and key switches, and is a circuit unit that receives various operation inputs and outputs them to the control unit 11.

Each of the slave units 3A, 3B, and 3C includes a control unit 31, a wireless communication interface unit (hereinafter referred to as a wireless communication I / F unit) 32, a storage unit 33, and a data input / output interface unit (hereinafter referred to as an input / output I / F). 34), and all the slave units have the same configuration.
The control unit 31 includes a microprocessor such as a CPU and its peripheral circuits, and implements various functional units by executing programs stored in advance in the storage unit 33 and the CPU.

As this functional means, a data transmitting / receiving means 31A is provided. The data transmission / reception means 31A transmits data taken from an external device (not shown) by the data input / output I / F unit 34 to the master unit 2 and the repeater 1 via the wireless communication I / F unit 32. Then, data from the base unit 2 or the repeater 1 is received via the wireless communication I / F unit 32.
The wireless communication I / F unit 32 is a circuit unit that performs wireless communication with the base unit 2 and the repeater 1 through a wireless line by transmitting and receiving wireless signals.

The storage unit 33 includes a storage device such as a memory or a hard disk, and stores various types of information used for processing in the control unit 31 such as the MAC address of the parent device 2 or the repeater 1 that is a communication partner and the MAC address of the own device. To do. An internal memory of the CPU may be used as the memory.
The data input / output I / F unit 34 is a circuit unit that is connected to an external device to exchange various data.

  In this wireless communication system, a MAC address is assigned as information indicating a data transmission source address and a transmission destination address. FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of data transmitted and received between the slave unit, the master unit, and the repeater. In this data, in the header section 40, a transmission source MAC address 41 indicating the transmission source device, a transmission destination MAC address 42 indicating the transmission destination device, a control code 43 indicating the signal type of the data, and the like are described. In the data section 45, various data such as data collected from the slave units 3A to 3C to the master unit 2 are described.

In general, a MAC (Media Access Control) address is binary information unique to each wireless terminal device connected to a wireless line (network), and by using this MAC address, a corresponding device can be specified. Therefore, when performing data communication between devices, it is necessary to use unique MAC addresses as the source and destination addresses.
Each of the slave units 3A, 3B, 3C, the master unit 2, and the repeater 1 transmits the MAC address of the own device and the communication partner set in advance to the data. Also, among the received data, only when the MAC address of the own device is described in the transmission destination address, it is determined that the data is destined for the own device, the data is acquired, and predetermined processing is performed. It has become.

[Data transfer processing]
Next, a data transfer process in the data transfer unit 11A of the repeater 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing data transfer processing in the data transfer means 11A of the repeater 1.
When the data transfer unit 11A starts to receive data via the wireless communication I / F unit 12, the data transfer unit 11A executes the data transfer process of FIG.
First, it is determined whether or not the received data is transmitted from the slave unit (step 100). Here, the transmission source address in the header part of the received data may be inspected to determine whether the MAC address is used by the slave unit, or the control code may be inspected and transmitted from the slave unit. It may be determined whether or not.

If the received data is transmitted from the slave unit (step 100: YES), the source address of the received data is acquired (step 101), otherwise (step 100: NO) ), The MAC address of the slave unit related to the data is acquired by determining the data addressed to the slave unit and acquiring the transmission destination address of the received data.
Then, referring to the address management table 13A of the storage unit 13, it is determined whether or not the MAC address of the child device is an address of a child device to be relayed by the own device (step 103). If it is (step 103: NO), the series of data transfer processing is terminated and the received data is discarded.

On the other hand, if the slave unit address is that of the relay target slave unit (step 103: YES), the rest of the data is sequentially received and temporarily stored in the storage unit 13 (step 104).
After receiving the data, read the data from the storage unit 13 (step 105), refer to the address management table 13A, replace the transmission destination address and the transmission source address of the data (step 106), Transmission is performed from the wireless communication I / F unit 12 (step 107), and a series of data transfer processing is completed.

  As described above, in this embodiment, a wireless terminal device (relay device) for relay is provided between a wireless terminal device (child device) to be relayed and a wireless base station (parent device), and the data transfer means Since the data transmitted from the wireless terminal device or the wireless base station is received and temporarily stored in the storage unit, the stored data is read from the storage unit and transferred to the wireless base station or the wireless terminal device. It is not necessary to provide a new radio base station separately in order to collect data from the slave units that are no longer wirelessly connected to the radio base station. Further, even when data collected by a radio base station is collected and used by a center device at a remote location via a public communication network, an increase in line use cost can be avoided. Therefore, the scale of the wireless communication system can be expanded without requiring a significant cost increase.

[Replace MAC address]
In this embodiment, when relaying the slave units 3A and 3B in the data transfer means 11A of the repeater 1, a relay MAC address is provided for each of the slave units 3A and 3B and managed by the address management table 13A. For the data received from the machines 3A and 3B, the transmission destination address is replaced with the MAC address of the parent machine 2, and the transmission source address is replaced with the relay MAC address and transmitted to the parent machine 2. In addition, the data received from the base unit 2 is replaced with the MAC address of the slave unit corresponding to the relay MAC address described as the destination address, and the source address is changed to the MAC address of the relay unit 1. It replaces and it transmits to the subunit | mobile_unit 3A or the subunit | mobile_unit 3B.
Thereby, based on the individual relay MAC addresses for the slave units 3A and 3B, the master unit 2 can identify the original transmission slave unit of the data, and the relay unit 1 can identify the original transmission destination slave unit of the data. Can be identified.

  Therefore, for the slave units 3A and 3B, the MAC address of the repeater 1 is set as the communication partner, and for the master unit 2, the MAC address and the relay MAC address of the repeater 1 are set as the communication partner. The data transmitted from the slave units 3A and 3B is relay-transferred to the master unit 2 by the repeater 1, and the data transmitted from the master unit 2 is relay-transferred to the slave units 3A and 3B by the repeater 1. In the slave unit 3C, the MAC address of the master unit 2 may be set as a communication partner as in the conventional case.

Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the address management table 13A manages the MAC addresses of the slave units 3A and 3B to be relayed in association with the management numbers unique to each slave unit. Yes.
When the data transfer means 11A relays and transfers data from the slave units 3A and 3B, the slave unit MAC address is acquired from the transmission source address of the data, and the management number corresponding to the slave unit MAC address is assigned to the address management table. Obtained from 13A. Then, by substituting a part of the MAC address of the repeater 1, for example, the last digit, with the management number, a relay MAC address unique to each of the slave units 3A and 3B is generated.

Further, when relaying and transferring data from the base unit 2, the relay MAC address is acquired from the transmission destination address of the data, the management number is acquired from a part of the relay MAC address, for example, the last digit, The slave MAC address corresponding to the management number is acquired from the address management table 13A.
As described above, since the relay MAC address is generated by the repeater 1, it is necessary to set the relay MAC address of each slave unit in the repeater 1 in advance even when there are many slave units to be relayed. Disappears.

As shown in FIG. 5, the relay addresses of the slave units 3A and 3B to be relayed may be set in advance for each of the slave units 3A and 3B and managed by the address management table 13A.
As a result, the generation process of the relay MAC address becomes unnecessary, and the process of the data transfer unit 11A can be simplified.

[Operation of wireless communication system]
In the wireless communication system according to the present embodiment, the data exchanged between the slave units 3A and 3B and the master unit 2 is relayed and transferred by the repeater 1 according to the procedure shown in FIGS.
FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing a data transfer operation of the wireless communication system.
First, a call request is transmitted from the slave unit 3A using the MAC address of the repeater 1 preset as a transmission destination (step 110). The data transfer means 11A of the repeater 1 receives the data addressed to itself, executes the data transfer process of FIG. 3 described above, and relays and transfers the call request to the base unit 2 (step 111).

In response to this, when a call permission is transmitted from the base unit 2 to the repeater 1 (step 112), the data transfer means 11A of the repeater 1 receives the data addressed to its own device, and the above-described FIG. The data transfer process is executed and the call permission is relayed to the handset 3A (step 113).
In response to the call permission, the slave unit 3A starts transmitting desired data (step 114), and the data transfer unit 11A of the repeater 1 transmits the data to the master unit in the same manner as the call request described above. 2 is relayed to step 2 (step 115).
Thereafter, in response to the end instruction from the base unit 2 (step 116), the data transfer means 11A of the repeater 1 relays and transfers the end instruction to the handset 3A in the same manner as the above-mentioned call permission (step 116). 117) In response to the end instruction, slave unit 3A ends data transmission.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing a data transfer operation when data is transmitted from the slave unit 3A to the master unit 2 in response to a request from the master unit 2.
First, a call request is transmitted from the parent device 2 using the relay MAC address of the child device 3A preset as a transmission destination (step 120). The data transfer unit 11A of the repeater 1 receives the data addressed to the own device, executes the data transfer process of FIG. 3 described above, and relays and transfers the call request to the child device 3A (step 121).

In response to this, when a call permission is transmitted from the slave unit 3A to the repeater 1 (step 122), the data transfer means 11A of the repeater 1 receives the data addressed to the own device, and the above-described FIG. The data transfer process is executed and the call permission is relayed to the base unit 2 (step 123).
In accordance with this call permission, base unit 2 transmits a data transmission request for requesting transmission of desired data (step 124), and data transfer means 11A of repeater 1 performs the same as the above-described call request. The data is relay-transferred to the slave unit 3A (step 125).

In response to this data transmission request, slave unit 3A starts transmission of desired data (step 126), and data transfer means 11A of repeater 1 transmits the data to the master unit in the same manner as the above-mentioned call permission. 2 is relayed to step 2 (step 127).
Thereafter, in response to the end instruction from the base unit 2 (step 128), the data transfer means 11A of the repeater 1 relays and transfers the end instruction to the handset 3A in the same manner as the above-described call request (step 128). 129) In the slave unit 3A, the data transmission is terminated in response to the termination instruction.
As described above, the data exchanged between the slave units 3A and 3B and the master unit 2 is relayed and transferred by the repeater 1.

[MAC address registration processing]
Next, with reference to FIG. 8, the MAC address registration process of a subunit | mobile_unit and a repeater is demonstrated. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing the MAC address registration process.
When the relay device 1 relays the slave devices 3A and 3B, it is necessary to register the MAC addresses of the slave devices 3A and 3B in the address management table 13A of the relay device 1. Also, it is necessary to register the relay MAC addresses of the repeater 1 and the slave units 3A and 3B in the address management table (not shown) of the master unit 2. Although these MAC address registrations may be performed manually, a case will be described here where the address registration unit 11B of the repeater 1 automatically performs the registration process.

First, the control unit 11 of the repeater 1 starts address registration reception from the relay target slave units 3A and 3B in response to a registration reception start operation from the operation input unit 15 (step 150), and is received by the display unit 14. The display showing the inside is started (step 151). Thereafter, in response to the registration operation in the slave unit 3A (step 152), a registration request is transmitted from the slave unit 3A (step 153).
The address registration unit 11B of the repeater 1 receives the registration request from the slave unit 3A via the wireless communication I / F unit 12, and acquires the MAC address of the slave unit 3A from the transmission source address given to the registration request. Then, the MAC address is associated with the unique management number and registered in the address management table 13A (step 154).

Then, a registration response indicating completion of registration is transmitted from the wireless communication I / F unit 12 to the slave unit 3A (step 155). Thereafter, in response to a reception end operation from the operation input unit 15 (step 156), the address registration reception process is ended, and the display indicating that the reception is being performed is ended on the display unit 14 (step 157).
Next, the address registration unit 11B transmits a registration request for registering the MAC address of its own device to the parent device 2 from the wireless communication I / F unit 12 to the parent device 2 (step 160). In response to this registration request, base unit 2 registers the MAC address of repeater 1 assigned to the registration request in the address management table (not shown) of base unit 2 (step 161), and the registration is completed. Is sent to the repeater 1 (step 162).

  In response to this, the address registration means 11B of the repeater 1 uses the management number corresponding to the MAC address of the slave unit 3A registered in the address management table 13A and the MAC address of the own device 3A for relaying the slave unit 3A. An address is generated (step 163), and a registration request for registering the MAC address for relay in the base unit 2 is transmitted from the wireless communication I / F unit 12 to the base unit 2 (step 164). In response to this registration request, the base unit 2 registers the relay MAC address of the slave unit 3A given to the registration request in the address management table (not shown) of the base unit 2 (step 165), A registration response indicating the completion of registration is transmitted to the repeater 1 (step 166).

In response to this, the address registration unit 11B of the repeater 1 displays the registration result in the base unit 2 on the display unit 14, and ends a series of address registration processing.
In this way, the address registration unit 11B of the repeater 1 automatically performs registration of the slave unit MAC address with respect to the repeater 1 and registration of the repeater MAC address and slave unit relay MAC address with respect to the master unit 2. Since it did in this way, the work burden of complicated MAC address registration in the repeater 1 and the main | base station 2 accompanying the addition of the repeater 1 can be reduced.

[Configuration of Second Embodiment]
Next, with reference to FIG. 9, the radio | wireless terminal apparatus concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention is demonstrated. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a wireless terminal apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 9, the same or equivalent parts as those in the first embodiment (see FIG. 1) described above are denoted by the same reference numerals.
In the first embodiment described above, the MAC address of the repeater 1 is set as a transmission destination in advance in the slave units 3A and 3B, and the relay MAC address of the repeater 1 is set as a transmission destination in the parent unit 2 in advance. The case of setting and relaying between the slave units 3A and 3B and the master unit 2 by the fixed repeater 1 has been described.

In the present embodiment, in response to a transfer request from the slave units 3A and 3B, the repeater 1A that can be transferred to the transmission destination responds to the request between the slave units 3A and 3B and the master unit 2. A case of relaying by the repeater 1A will be described.
The wireless terminal device 1A (hereinafter referred to as a repeater) in FIG. 9 has the same configuration as the repeater 1 except that the functional means of the control unit 11 and the address management table of the storage unit 13 are different. Yes.

The control unit 11 of the repeater 1A is provided with data transfer means 11C and connection confirmation means 11D as functional means.
When the wireless transfer I / F unit 12 receives the transfer confirmation request, the data transfer unit 11C can perform wireless communication between the desired transmission destination specified in the transfer confirmation request and the own repeater 1A. Thereafter, the data from the transmission source of the transfer confirmation request is relay-transferred.
The connection confirmation unit 11D transmits a connection confirmation request to the desired transmission destination specified by the transfer confirmation request via the wireless communication I / F unit 12, so that the transmission destination and the own repeater 1A are wirelessly connected. Check if communication is possible.

  In this wireless communication system, a MAC address is assigned as information indicating a data transmission source address and a transmission destination address. In addition, a MAC address is given to the data as information indicating a repeater address. FIG. 10 shows a configuration example of data transmitted and received between the slave unit, the master unit, and the repeater. In this data, the header unit 50 includes a transmission source MAC address 51 indicating a transmission source device, a transmission destination MAC address 52 indicating a transmission destination device, a relay MAC address 53 indicating a relay, and a control indicating the signal type of the data. A code 54, a flag 55 indicating control information to be notified by the data, and the like are described. In the data portion 56, various data such as data collected from the slave units 3A to 3C to the master unit 2 are described.

In the present embodiment, when data from the slave units 3A and 3B to the master unit 2 is relay-transferred by the repeater 1A, the data transfer unit 11C of the repeater 1A determines the necessity for relay transfer and automatically Perform relay transfer. At this time, the data transfer unit 11C registers the MAC address of the transmission source device determined as the relay target in the address management table 13B of the storage unit 13.
FIG. 11 shows a configuration example of the address management table 13B. In this example, the MAC addresses of the slave units 3A and 3B determined to be relay targets are registered.
Accordingly, all the transmission source addresses of the received data registered in the address management table 13B are relayed and transferred by the repeater 1A.

In this case, the data transferred from the slave units 3A and 3B to the master unit 2 is not replaced with the source and destination addresses as in the above-described embodiment. However, in order to determine whether or not the data transmitted from the parent device 2 to the child devices 3A and 3B should be relayed and transferred by the own device, the MAC address of the relay device 1A is described in the relay device MAC address 3, Data from the slave units 3A and 3B is transferred to the master unit 2. As a result, the MAC address of the repeater 1A is described in the relay MAC address of the data from the master unit 2 to the slave units 3A and 3B, thereby determining whether or not relay transfer should be performed by the own device. it can.
Note that it is not necessary to describe the repeater MAC address in the data transferred to the slave units 3A and 3B.

[Operation of Second Embodiment]
Next, with reference to FIG. 12, the data transfer process of the repeater 1A according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram showing a data transfer process of the repeater 1A according to the present embodiment. Here, a case where the relay device 1A relays between the child device 3A and the parent device 2 will be described as an example.
First, the slave unit 3A makes a transfer request to one of the repeaters when the wireless connection with the master unit 2 is difficult. Therefore, the transfer confirmation is set with the transfer request flag set in the flag 55 of the header unit 50. The request is transmitted to base unit 2 (step 200).

The data transfer means 11C of the repeater 1A constantly monitors the data transmitted from the other slave units 3A and 3B by the wireless communication I / F unit 12, and the data transmitted from the slave unit 3A is received. In the case, the presence / absence of setting of the transfer request flag of the data is confirmed (step 201). Here, when the transfer request flag is set (step 201: YES), the MAC address of the parent device 2 is acquired from the transmission destination address of the transfer confirmation request and transferred to the connection confirmation unit 11D.
In response to this, the connection confirmation unit 11D transmits a connection confirmation request with the MAC address as the transmission destination address from the wireless communication I / F unit 12, and establishes a wireless connection between the own device and the transmission destination, here, the master unit 2. Confirmation is made (step 202).

In response to the reception of this connection confirmation request, base unit 2 determines whether or not it can be connected to repeater 1A as the transmission source (step 203). If connection is possible (step 203: YES), a connection confirmation response is returned to the repeater 1A (step 204).
In response to receiving the connection confirmation response, the connection confirmation unit 11D of the repeater 1A notifies the data transfer unit 11C that wireless connection with the parent device 2 is possible.
In response to this, the data transfer means 11C registers the MAC address of the slave unit 3A, which is the transmission source of the previous transfer confirmation request, as a relay target in the address management table of the storage unit 13 (step 205), to the slave unit 3A. A transfer confirmation response is returned (step 206).

In response to this transfer confirmation response, handset 3A starts data transmission to base unit 2 (step 206). At this time, the MAC address of the base unit 2 instead of the repeater 1 is used as the data transmission destination address.
The data transfer means 11C of the repeater 1A first receives the header part of the data from the slave unit 3A to acquire the transmission source address, and when the transmission source address is registered in the address management table 13B ( Step 211: YES), it is determined that the data is to be relayed, and the data are sequentially received and temporarily stored in the storage unit 13 (Step 212).

After the data reception is completed, the data is read from the storage unit 13 (step 213), the MAC address of the own device is described in the repeater MAC address, and transmitted from the wireless communication I / F unit 12 to the base unit 2 ( Step 214).
Thereby, the data transmitted from the child device 3A to the parent device 2 is relayed by the relay device 1A and transferred to the parent device 2.

When data is transmitted from the main unit 2 to the sub unit 3A (step 220), the data transfer unit 11C of the repeater 1A acquires the repeater MAC address from the header portion of the data, and the MAC address is It is determined whether or not it matches the MAC address of the own device (step 221).
If the MAC addresses match (step 221: YES), it is determined that the data is to be relayed by the own device, and the data is sequentially received and temporarily stored in the storage unit 13 (step 222).
After the data reception is completed, the data is read from the storage unit 13 (step 223), and transmitted from the wireless communication I / F unit 12 to the slave unit 3A (step 224).

  As described above, in this embodiment, a wireless terminal device (relay device) for relay is provided between a wireless terminal device (child device) and a wireless base station (parent device), and the data transfer means uses the wireless terminal device. When the data received from the device (slave unit) includes transfer request information (transfer request flag) for requesting relay transfer, the transfer permission data is transmitted to the requesting wireless terminal device via the wireless communication means. In response to this, since the data transmitted from the wireless terminal device is transferred, a new wireless base station is collected in order to collect data from the slave unit that cannot wirelessly connect to the existing wireless base station. Need not be provided separately. Further, even when data collected by a radio base station is collected and used by a center device at a remote location via a public communication network, an increase in line use cost can be avoided. Therefore, the scale of the wireless communication system can be expanded without requiring a significant cost increase.

  In addition, since the relay wireless terminal device itself determines whether or not relaying is necessary, it is not necessary for the wireless terminal device to set any wireless terminal device as a relay destination in advance. Compared with the case where the device is fixedly set, even if relaying is not possible due to a failure of the wireless terminal device for relaying, other wireless terminal devices for relaying can flexibly cope with the stability of the wireless communication system. Can increase the sex. Furthermore, it is not necessary to set the MAC address of the wireless terminal device for relay individually for each wireless terminal device, and the work load can be reduced.

  In addition, when there is a transfer request, the connection confirmation means confirms whether or not the wireless connection between the transfer destination and the wireless terminal device for relay is possible, and depending on the result, the wireless terminal device of the transfer request source Because the relay transfer is started, relay transfer is started only when a wireless connection can be established between the requested transfer destination and the wireless terminal device for relay. Can be dealt with reliably.

[Configuration of Third Embodiment]
Next, with reference to FIG. 13, the radio | wireless terminal apparatus concerning the 3rd Embodiment of this invention is demonstrated. FIG. 13: is a block diagram which shows the structure of the radio | wireless terminal apparatus concerning the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.
In the second embodiment described above (see FIG. 9), in response to a transfer request from the slave units 3A and 3B, the repeater 1A that can transfer to the destination responds to the slave units 3A and 3A. The case where the relay device 1A relays between 3B and the parent device 2 has been described.
In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which a slave unit that is a data transmission source selects a slave unit that is a relay destination based on the communication status of other slave units and requests transfer of the data.

In the present embodiment, each of the wireless terminal devices 7A to 7D (hereinafter referred to as a slave unit) has a relay function for relaying data of other slave units, and the slave units 7B to 7D are connected to the slave unit 7A. It has the same configuration. Note that this relay function does not have to be possessed by all the slave units, and at least a slave unit installed at a location where relay is necessary only has the relay function.
A slave unit 7A of FIG. 13 is provided with a control unit 71, a wireless communication I / F unit 72, a storage unit 73, and a data input / output I / F unit 74.

The control unit 71 includes a microprocessor such as a CPU and its peripheral circuits, and implements various functional units by executing a program stored in advance in the storage unit 73 or the CPU.
As this functional means, a data transmission / reception means 71A, a data transfer means 71B, and an address acquisition means 71C are provided.
The data transmission / reception means 71A receives data taken from an external device (not shown) by the data input / output I / F unit 74 via the wireless communication I / F unit 72 and the master unit 2 or other slave units 7B to 7D. And receives data from the parent device 2 and the other child devices 7B to 7D via the wireless communication I / F unit 72.

The wireless communication I / F unit 72 transmits and receives wireless signals based on wireless systems such as specific low-power wireless, Bluetooth, cordless wireless, and wireless LAN, so that the parent device 2 and other child devices 7B to 7B through the wireless line are connected. 7D is a circuit unit that performs wireless communication with 7D.
The storage unit 73 includes a storage device such as a memory or a hard disk, and in addition to an address management table 73A for managing addresses acquired from the communication status of other slave units, the MAC address of the master unit 2 as a communication partner, and the own device Various information used for processing in the control unit 71, such as the MAC address of the device, is stored. An internal memory of the CPU may be used as the memory.
The data input / output I / F unit 74 is a circuit unit that is connected to an external device to exchange various data.

  In this wireless communication system, a MAC address is assigned as information indicating a data transmission source address and a transmission destination address. FIG. 14 shows a configuration example of data transmitted and received between the slave units and between the slave unit and the master unit. In this data, in the header part 80, a transmission source MAC address 81 indicating the transmission source device, a transmission destination MAC address 82 indicating the transmission destination device, a relay MAC address 83 indicating the relay, and a control indicating the signal type of the data A code 84 or the like is described. In the data portion 85, various data such as data collected from the slave units 7A to 7D to the master unit 2 are described.

In the present embodiment, when relaying and transferring data from the slave units 7A and 7B to the master unit 2 by the slave unit 7D, the address acquisition means 71C of the slave units 7A and 7B monitors the communication status of the slave unit 7D. The slave unit 7C7D is confirmed so as to be wirelessly connectable to the transmission destination desired by its own device, that is, the master unit 2, and the MAC addresses of these slave units 7C and 7D are associated with the master unit 2 as the transmission destination, Register in the address management table 73A.
FIG. 15 shows a configuration example of the address management table 73A. In this example, for each data communication in the monitored slave units 7C and 7D, the MAC address of the slave unit that is the transmission source of the data and the MAC address of the master unit 2 that is the transmission destination are registered as a pair. .

If the slave units 7A and 7B cannot be wirelessly connected to the master unit 2, the slave unit 7A, 7B acquires the source MAC address corresponding to the destination from the address management table 73A, and makes a transfer request to the slave unit with the MAC address.
In this case, the address acquisition process in the address acquisition unit 71 may be executed in advance, or may be executed only when wireless connection is not possible to find a relay destination.

[Operation of Third Embodiment]
Next, with reference to FIG. 16, an address acquisition process and a data transmission / reception process of the slave unit 7A according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 16 is a sequence diagram showing address acquisition processing and data transmission / reception processing of the slave unit 7A according to the present embodiment. Here, a case where the slave unit 7D relays between the slave unit 7A and the master unit 2 will be described as an example.
First, the address acquisition means 71C of the slave unit 7A monitors the communication status of the other slave units 7B to 7D from the data received by the wireless communication I / F unit 72. And about the data transmitted from the subunit | mobile_unit normally wirelessly communicated with the main | base station 2 (step 301: YES), the transmission source and transmission destination address are acquired, and it registers into the address management table 73A of the memory | storage part 73. (Step 302).

  Next, the data transmission / reception means 71A of the child device 7A transmits arbitrary data to the parent device 2 (step 310), and if a response is not obtained from the parent device 2 within a predetermined period from the transmission, a timeout occurs ( Step 311: YES), the data transmission / reception means 71A selects the transmission source address corresponding to the parent device 2 as the transmission destination from the address management table 73A of the storage unit 73, and uses the transmission source address as the repeater MAC address. The data is set (step 312) and transmitted from the wireless communication I / F unit 72 (step 313).

The data transfer means 71B of the slave unit 7D receives this data via the wireless communication I / F unit 72 and confirms whether the repeater MAC address in the header part matches the MAC address of the own device (step 314). .
Here, when it coincides with the MAC address of its own device (step 314: YES), the data is sequentially received and temporarily stored in the storage unit 73 (step 315).
After the data reception is completed, the data is read from the storage unit 73 (step 316), and transmitted from the wireless communication I / F unit 72 to the parent device 2 (step 317).

Also, when the data transmitted from the master unit 2 to the slave unit 7A is received, the repeater MAC address is compared with the MAC address of the own device through the same steps 314 to 317 as described above, and the match is found. In response, the data is relayed and transferred to the slave unit 7A.
Thereby, the data transmitted from the child device 7A to the parent device 2 is relayed by the child device 7D and transferred to the parent device 2, and the data transmitted to the parent device 2 or the child device 7A is transferred to the child device 7D. And transferred to the slave unit 7A.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, a wireless terminal that relays and transfers data between a wireless terminal device (slave unit) and a wireless base station (master unit) in response to a request from the wireless terminal device (slave unit). Since the device (repeater) is provided, and the data is transferred only when the repeater MAC address assigned to the data received by the wireless communication means matches the MAC address of the own device. Data is relayed and transferred to the wireless base station by a wireless terminal device (relay) designated as a repeater for each data.

  Further, in the address management table of the wireless terminal device (slave device), the MAC address of the wireless base station indicating the data transmission destination is associated with the MAC address of the wireless terminal device indicating the request destination of data relay transfer in advance and managed in advance. If the data transmission / reception means cannot establish a wireless connection with the wireless base station, the MAC address of the wireless terminal device corresponding to the MAC address of the wireless base station is obtained from the address management table, and data is transmitted to the wireless terminal device of the MAC address. Since the transfer request information for requesting the relay transfer is transmitted via the wireless communication means, the data transmission source selects an appropriate wireless terminal device (relay device) as necessary.

  As a result, it is not necessary to separately provide a new radio base station in order to collect data from the slave units that are unable to establish a radio connection with the existing radio base station. Further, even when data collected by a radio base station is collected and used by a center device at a remote location via a public communication network, an increase in line use cost can be avoided. Therefore, the scale of the wireless communication system can be expanded without requiring a significant cost increase.

  In addition, the address acquisition means of the wireless terminal device (slave unit) monitors data exchanged between the other wireless terminal device and the wireless base station, and from the data, the other wireless terminal device and the wireless base station are monitored. Since each MAC address is acquired and the MAC address is associated and stored in the address management table, the MAC address of the wireless terminal device functioning as a repeater of the own device can be automatically acquired. It is not necessary to set the MAC address of the wireless terminal device for relay individually for each wireless terminal device, and the work load can be reduced.

  At this time, if the relay request from the wireless terminal device (slave device) is not accepted, the data transmitting / receiving means causes another wireless terminal device corresponding to the MAC address of the wireless base station to be the transmission destination from the address management table. It is possible to make a relay request by selecting the MAC address of the relay, and compared to the case where the wireless terminal device for relay is fixedly set, relay becomes impossible due to a failure of the wireless terminal device for relay, etc. Even in this case, it is possible to flexibly deal with other wireless terminal devices for relay, and the stability of the wireless communication system can be improved.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, a case where a communication terminal device dedicated to relay transfer is used as the repeaters 1 and 1A has been described as an example. However, a slave unit that transmits data to the master unit 2 is described. Data transfer means and an address management table may be provided as a data relay transfer function in 3A to 3C, and the function of the relays 1 and 1A may be shared by any or all of the slave units 3A to 3C.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, the data communication system that collects data from each slave unit to the master unit via a wireless line has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as the data communication means used between the child device, the parent device, and the repeater, other data communication means such as wired communication may be used instead of wireless communication, and the same effect as described above can be obtained. The present invention is also applicable to a case where desired data is exchanged between two communication terminal devices, instead of collecting data of the child device at the parent device, or when data is distributed from the parent device to each child device. It can be applied and the same effects as described above can be obtained.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the radio | wireless terminal apparatus concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a structural example of the data transmitted / received between radio | wireless terminal apparatuses and between a radio | wireless terminal apparatus and a radio base station. It is a flowchart which shows the data transfer process in a wireless terminal device (relay machine). It is an example of a structure of an address management table. It is another example of a structure of an address management table. It is a sequence diagram which shows the data transfer operation | movement of a radio | wireless communications system. It is a sequence diagram which shows the other data transfer operation | movement of a radio | wireless communications system. It is a sequence diagram which shows a MAC address registration process. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the radio | wireless terminal apparatus concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a structural example of the data transmitted / received between radio | wireless terminal apparatuses and between a radio | wireless terminal apparatus and a radio base station. It is an example of a structure of an address management table. It is a sequence diagram which shows the data transfer operation | movement in a radio | wireless terminal apparatus (relay machine). It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the radio | wireless terminal apparatus concerning the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a structural example of the data transmitted / received between radio | wireless terminal apparatuses and between a radio | wireless terminal apparatus and a radio base station. It is an example of a structure of an address management table. It is a sequence diagram which shows the data transfer operation | movement in a radio | wireless terminal apparatus (relay machine).

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,1A ... Wireless terminal device (repeater), 11 ... Control part, 11A, 11C ... Data transfer means, 11B ... Address registration means, 11D ... Connection confirmation means, 12 ... Wireless communication I / F part, 13 ... Storage part , 13A, 13B ... Address management table, 14 ... Display unit, 15 ... Operation input unit, 2 ... Wireless base station (base unit), 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D ... Wireless terminal device (slave unit), 31 ... Control unit 31A ... Data transmission / reception means, 32 ... Wireless communication I / F unit, 33 ... Storage unit, 34 ... Data input / output I / F unit, 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D ... Wireless terminal device (slave unit / relay unit), 71 ... Control unit, 71A ... Data transmission / reception means, 71B ... Data transfer means, 71C ... Address acquisition means, 72 ... Wireless communication I / F part, 73 ... Storage part, 73A ... Address management table, 74 ... Data input / output I / O F part.

Claims (2)

Used in a wireless communication system that exchanges various types of data between a plurality of wireless terminal devices and a wireless base station via wireless communication, and relays and transfers data exchanged between these wireless terminal devices and the wireless base station A wireless terminal device,
Wireless communication means for performing wireless communication with other wireless terminal devices and wireless base stations;
Storage means for storing various data;
Data relay means for temporarily storing the data received by the wireless communication means in the storage unit, and reading the stored data from the storage unit to the destination of the data via the wireless communication means;
Connection confirmation means for confirming whether or not wireless connection between the wireless base station and the own device is possible,
The data relay means monitors the data transmitted from the other wireless terminal device by the wireless communication means, and when the data includes transfer request information for requesting relay transfer, the connection confirmation means After confirming that wireless connection is possible between the wireless base station that is the transmission destination of the data and its own device, transfer permission data is transmitted to the other wireless terminal device via the wireless communication means, A wireless terminal device that transfers data transmitted from the other wireless terminal device according to the above. In claim 1,
An address management table for managing a MAC address unique to the other wireless terminal device to be relayed;
The data relay means relays the MAC address of the other wireless terminal apparatus after confirming the wireless connection possibility between the wireless base station that is the data transmission destination and the own apparatus by the connection confirmation means. Registered in the address management table as a target, and the source address given to the data transmitted from the other wireless terminal device received by the wireless communication means to the wireless base station is registered in the address management table. The wireless terminal device, wherein the data is transferred to the wireless base station only when it matches one of the existing MAC addresses.

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