JP2009088875A - Communication adapter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide technique capable of reducing a work load of a user and improving security more than in the conventional practice when a terminal device is temporarily connected to a wireless LAN. <P>SOLUTION: A wireless LAN I/F 25 of a wireless LAN adapter 2 transmits and receives data to/from an access point 4 on the basis of a prescribed protocol. A controller 22 decodes data received by the wireless LAN I/F 25 according to setting information stored in a wireless LAN mode setting storage area 231, converts the data into a format conforming to a wired LAN and supplies the data to a wired LAN I/F 24. The wired LAN I/F 24 outputs the supplied data to a terminal device 1 through a USB connection terminal 21. At this time, the controller 22 inhibits the terminal device 1 from accessing the wireless LAN mode setting storage area 231. The controller 22 inhibits the terminal device 1 from accessing the wireless LAN mode setting storage area 231. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication adapter.

In order to use a wireless local area network (LAN) in a computer device such as a personal computer, the user needs to perform various setting operations such as driver installation, encryption method selection, and access point setting. is there. Such setting work is often complicated, and setting may be difficult for an unfamiliar user. In Patent Document 1, in order to make the wireless LAN adapter function reliably, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection terminal and a keyboard emulation function are provided so that an arbitrary file stored in the nonvolatile memory can be loaded without inputting a command. Techniques to perform are disclosed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-289453

  By the way, there is a case where it is desired to perform communication temporarily using a wireless LAN in a certain environment. Thus, even when the wireless LAN is used only temporarily, the user has to perform various setting operations such as driver installation and access point setting for using the wireless LAN. . Even when a device in which a driver is already installed is used, it is necessary to perform various settings such as setting of an access point corresponding to the environment, and the work is complicated. Further, various setting information related to the wireless LAN connection is copied and stored in the used terminal device. Even after the temporary use of the wireless LAN is completed, the setting information is stored in the used terminal device as it is. Therefore, the setting information remains in the user's terminal device, and there is a risk that the setting information may be leaked outside or misused.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described background. When a terminal device is temporarily connected to a wireless LAN, the user's workload can be reduced and security can be increased compared to the conventional case. The purpose is to provide technology.

  A communication adapter according to a preferred aspect of the present invention stores a terminal connected to an input / output terminal of a computer, a wired LAN interface that communicates with the computer via the terminal, and setting information for wireless communication. Based on the setting information stored in the setting information storage unit and the setting information storage unit, and exchanges data with the wireless access point based on a predetermined protocol, and transmits / receives the data to / from the wired LAN interface And an access prohibiting unit for prohibiting access from the computer to the setting information storage unit.

In the above-described aspect, the wired LAN interface may operate with a driver installed in the computer.
Further, in the above aspect, the setting information includes encryption type information indicating a type of an encryption method, and data received by the wireless LAN interface is stored in the setting information storage unit. And a decoding means for decoding the decoded data and outputting the decoded data to the wired LAN interface.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, when connecting a terminal device temporarily to wireless LAN, compared with the past, a user's workload can be reduced and security can be improved.

<Configuration>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, terminal devices 1a, 1b, and 1c are computer devices such as personal computers, and are used by users of this system. In the following description, when it is not necessary to distinguish between the terminal devices 1a, 1b, and 1c, they will be referred to as “terminal device 1”. Further, in the example shown in FIG. 1, only three terminal devices 1 are illustrated in order to prevent the drawing from becoming complicated, but the number of terminal devices 1 may be larger or smaller. The terminal device 1 includes a USB slot 15, and a device having a USB connection terminal such as a USB memory, a USB cable, or the like can be connected to the USB slot 15.

  The wireless LAN adapters 2a, 2b, and 2c are communication adapters for causing the terminal devices 1a, 1b, and 1c to perform a wireless LAN connection. The wireless LAN adapters 2a, 2b, and 2c are distributed to users of the terminal devices 1a, 1b, and 1c by the administrator of the wireless LAN environment. In the following description, when it is not necessary to distinguish the wireless LAN adapters 2a, 2b, and 2c, they will be referred to as “wireless LAN adapter 2”. The wireless LAN adapter 2 includes a USB connection terminal 21, and the USB connection terminal 21 is inserted into the USB slot 15 of the terminal device 1 so that the wireless LAN adapter 2 and the terminal device 1 can be connected. .

  The information providing device 3 is a computer device such as a personal computer, and distributes various data such as audio data and video data to the terminal device 1. The access point 4 is a radio wave relay that connects terminals with a wireless LAN. As shown in FIG. 1, the information providing apparatus 3 and the access point 4 are communicably connected via a communication network 5 such as a LAN. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the information providing apparatus 3 is illustrated as being connected to the communication network 5 by wire, but the information providing apparatus 3 may be wirelessly connected.

  Next, the configuration of the wireless LAN adapter 2 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the wireless LAN adapter 2. The USB connection terminal 21 can be plugged into the USB slot 15 of the terminal device 1, and power is transferred from the terminal device 1 to the wireless LAN adapter 2 by inserting the USB connection terminal 21 into the USB slot 15 of the terminal device 1. Are supplied, and each part of the wireless LAN adapter 2 is driven by the supplied power. That is, by inserting the USB connection terminal 21 of the wireless LAN adapter 2 into the USB slot 15 of the terminal device 1, communication control of the wireless LAN adapter 2 is activated. Power is supplied to each part of the wireless LAN adapter 2 via the USB connection terminal 21. In FIG. 2, however, the power supply line is omitted in order to prevent the drawing from becoming complicated. In the figure, the controller 22 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a RAM (Random Access Memory), and reads and executes a computer program stored in the ROM or the storage unit 23. Each part of the wireless LAN adapter 2 is controlled. The storage unit 23 is a storage unit for storing a program executed by the controller 22 and various setting information, and is, for example, an EEPROM (Electronically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory). The wired LAN I / F 24 is an interface for performing communication by a method compliant with the wired LAN. The wired LAN I / F 24 operates with a driver provided as a standard in the operating system of the computer such as the terminal device 1 and communicates with the computer via the USB connection terminal 21. The wireless LAN I / F 25 exchanges data with the access point 4 based on a predetermined protocol, and transmits / receives the data to / from the wired LAN I / F 24.

  The storage unit 23 includes a wireless LAN mode setting storage area 231 as illustrated. The wireless LAN mode setting storage area 231 includes various setting information related to the wireless LAN, such as “communication mode”, “access point”, “SSID (Service Set Identifier)”, “encryption method”, “authentication”, and the like. It is remembered. As the “communication mode”, information indicating the communication type of the wireless LAN is stored. As the “access point”, information indicating the access point of the wireless LAN to be used is stored. As “SSID”, an identifier of an access point in the wireless LAN is stored. As “encryption method”, information indicating the type of encryption method is stored. As “authentication”, information indicating the type of authentication method is stored.

  The controller 22 performs a decoding process on the data received by the wireless LAN I / F 25 according to the setting information stored in the wireless LAN mode setting storage area 231 and outputs the data to the wired LAN I / F 24. Specifically, for example, the controller 22 performs a cipher analysis process according to the encryption type of “encryption method” stored in the wireless LAN mode setting storage area 231.

  The setting information is stored in the wireless LAN mode setting storage area 231 by the dedicated writing device before the wireless LAN adapter 2 is lent to the user. Only the dedicated writing device can access the wireless LAN mode setting storage area 231, and devices such as the terminal device 1, that is, devices other than the dedicated writing device, can access the wireless LAN mode setting storage area 231. It cannot be accessed. Specifically, the unique identification number of the dedicated writing device is registered in advance in the wireless LAN adapter 2, and the wireless LAN adapter 2 acquires the unique identification number of the connected device, and the registered unique identification number and If they match, access is permitted if they match, while access is prohibited if they do not match. In addition, the aspect of the access restriction to the wireless LAN adapter 2 is not limited to this. For example, predetermined authentication information is stored in advance in at least one of the wireless LAN adapter 2 and a dedicated writing device, You may make it perform access restriction by collating a device using this authentication information.

  Next, the configuration of the terminal device 1 will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the terminal device 1. In the figure, a control unit 11 includes a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM, and controls each unit of the terminal device 1 through a bus by reading and executing a computer program stored in the ROM or the storage unit 12. The storage unit 12 is a storage unit for storing a program executed by the control unit 11 and data used at the time of execution, and is, for example, a hard disk. The storage unit 12 stores various software programs such as an operating system OS. The display unit 13 includes a liquid crystal display panel and the like, and displays various images under the control of the control unit 11. The operation unit 14 outputs a signal corresponding to the operation by the user to the control unit 11. The microphone 16 collects sound and outputs a sound signal (analog signal) representing the collected sound. The audio processing unit 17 converts an audio signal (analog signal) output from the microphone 16 into digital data and outputs the digital data to the control unit 11. The speaker 18 is a sound emitting unit that emits sound with an intensity corresponding to the sound signal that is converted from digital data to an analog signal and output by the sound processing unit 17. A USB connection terminal can be inserted into the USB slot 15, and data is exchanged with the USB connection terminal inserted into the USB slot 15.

  In this embodiment, a case where the microphone 16 and the speaker 18 are included in the terminal device 1 will be described. However, an input terminal and an output terminal are provided in the audio processing unit 17, and the input terminal is connected to the input terminal via an audio cable. An external microphone may be connected, and similarly, an external speaker may be connected to the output terminal via an audio cable. In the present embodiment, the case where the audio signal input from the microphone 16 to the audio processing unit 17 and the audio signal output from the audio processing unit 17 to the speaker 18 are analog audio signals will be described. You may make it input / output. In such a case, it is not necessary to perform A / D conversion or D / A conversion in the voice processing unit 17.

  The terminal device 1 is preinstalled with an operating system OS. The operating system OS installed in the terminal device 1 is equipped with a driver for receiving data via a wired LAN as standard. Therefore, the user of the terminal device 1 does not need to perform operations such as driver installation and various settings when using a wired LAN that can operate with a standard driver, and the wired LAN cable is connected to the terminal device 1. By simply plugging in, communication using a wired LAN is possible.

  Next, the configuration of the information providing device 3 will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the information providing apparatus 3. In the figure, the control unit 31 includes a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM, and controls each unit of the information providing apparatus 3 through a bus by reading and executing a computer program stored in the ROM or the storage unit 32. The storage unit 32 is a storage unit for storing a program executed by the control unit 31 and data used at the time of execution, and is, for example, a hard disk device. The display unit 33 includes a liquid crystal display panel and the like, and displays various images under the control of the control unit 11. The operation unit 34 outputs a signal corresponding to the operation by the operator to the control unit 11. The communication unit 35 is a communication unit for performing communication with other devices, and is wired to the communication network 5. In this embodiment, the case where the communication unit 35 is wired to the communication network 5 will be described. However, a wireless communication unit that performs wireless communication may be used.

<Operation>
Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
<Initial setting operation>
First, the administrator of the wireless LAN environment writes various setting information for connecting to the wireless LAN to the wireless LAN mode setting storage area 231 in each of the plurality of wireless LAN adapters 2 using a dedicated writing device. For the operation. As this setting information, identification information corresponding to the access point 4 in FIG. 1 is set as the “access point”, and the communication mode, SSID, encryption method, authentication method, etc. corresponding to the access point 4 are used. The dedicated writing device attempts to write data to the wireless LAN mode setting storage area 231 of the wireless LAN adapter 2 according to the content operated by the administrator. When the controller 22 of the wireless LAN adapter 2 detects an access request from another device, the controller 22 determines whether the access source device is a dedicated writing device by referring to the unique identification number of the access source device. To do. The controller 22 permits writing of setting information when the determination result is affirmative, while prohibiting access when the determination result is negative.

<Wireless communication operation>
Next, communication operation using a wireless LAN environment will be described. In the following description, an operation for distributing various data such as audio data and video data from the information providing device 3 to the terminal device 1 will be described. First, the administrator distributes the wireless LAN adapter 2 in which the setting information is written to the user who wants to use the wireless LAN. The user inserts the wireless LAN adapter 2 distributed by the administrator into the USB slot 15 of his / her terminal device 1. At this time, the user does not need to perform various setting operations for using the wireless LAN, and only needs to insert the distributed wireless LAN adapter 2 into the USB slot 15 of his terminal device 1.

  The administrator performs an operation for distributing audio data, video data, and the like from the information providing device 3 to the terminal device 1 using the operation unit 34 of the information providing device 3. The information providing device 3 distributes various data such as audio data and video data to the terminal device 1 via the communication network 5 and the access point 4 according to the operated content. The access point 4 distributes data received via the communication network 5 to the terminal device 1 as a radio signal.

  Next, operations of the terminal device 1 and the wireless LAN adapter 2 that receive data distributed from the information providing device 3 will be described. First, the wireless LAN I / F 25 of the wireless LAN adapter 2 exchanges data with the access point 4 based on a predetermined protocol according to the setting information stored in the wireless LAN mode setting storage area 231. The controller 22 decodes the data received by the wireless LAN I / F 25 in accordance with the setting information stored in the wireless LAN mode setting storage area 231 and converts the data into a format compliant with the wired LAN. To supply. The wired LAN I / F 24 outputs the supplied data to the terminal device 1 via the USB connection terminal 21.

  The terminal device 1 receives data output from the USB connection terminal 21 by operating a wired LAN driver provided as a standard in the operating system OS. That is, the terminal device 1 receives data from the wireless LAN adapter 2 in the same manner as when receiving data via a wired LAN. When the received data is audio data, the terminal device 1 emits sound from the speaker 18 based on the received audio data. When the received data is video data, the terminal device 1 outputs a video based on the received data to the display unit 13.

  From the terminal device 1, sound and video according to audio data and video data distributed from the information providing device 3 flow. Thereby, the user of the terminal device 1 can view the video and audio flowing from the terminal device 1.

  Here, in the conventional wireless LAN environment, in order to use the wireless LAN, it is necessary to install a driver in the personal computer. On the other hand, in this embodiment, since only the wired LAN I / F is provided to the terminal device 1, the terminal device 1 is operated by a wired LAN driver provided as standard in the operating system OS. For this reason, in this embodiment, it is not necessary to install a driver that is conventionally required when using a wireless LAN.

  Further, in this embodiment, since settings necessary for wireless LAN communication are completed and distributed to the wireless LAN adapter 2 in advance, users using the wireless LAN adapter 2 do not need to make the same settings as those in the wired LAN environment. The network can be used in a simple environment. Thus, in this embodiment, it is not necessary for the user to perform computer settings or setting changes in advance. Further, since the setting work of the computer is unnecessary, the wireless LAN can be started immediately by simply inserting the adapter into the computer device.

  In this embodiment, since it is not necessary to copy the setting file to the terminal device 1 used by the user, even if the wireless LAN adapter is removed from the two terminal device 1, the setting file does not remain in the terminal device 1. . Thereby, it is possible to prevent the setting information of the wireless LAN related to the wireless LAN environment from being leaked to the outside or misused. In this embodiment, the wireless LAN environment can be provided only to the user having the wireless LAN adapter 2, and the setting information is provided to other users (users not having the wireless LAN adapter 2). Can be concealed.

<Modification>
Although this embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented in various other forms. An example is shown below. Moreover, you may combine the following each aspect suitably.
(1) In the above embodiment, power is supplied from the terminal device 1 to the wireless LAN adapter 2 via the USB connection terminal 21, and each part of the wireless LAN adapter 2 is driven by this power. The configuration for driving the wireless LAN adapter 2 is not limited to this, and for example, each unit of the wireless LAN adapter 2 may be driven using a battery.
In the above-described embodiment, the wireless LAN adapter 2 includes the USB connection terminal 21, and the USB connection terminal 21 is connected to the terminal device 1. The mode of connecting the wireless LAN adapter 2 and the terminal device 1 is not limited to this. For example, the wireless LAN adapter 2 includes a wired LAN plug, and the wired LAN plug is connected to the terminal device 1 in a wired manner. You may make it connect the terminal device 1 and the wireless LAN adapter 2 by inserting in a LAN slot. In this case, since power cannot be supplied from the terminal device 1 such as the USB I / F, each unit of the wireless LAN adapter 2 may be driven using a battery as described above.

(2) In the above embodiment, when the USB connection terminal 21 of the wireless LAN adapter 2 is inserted into the USB slot of the terminal device 1, power is supplied to each part of the wireless LAN adapter 2, and communication control of the wireless LAN adapter 2 is performed. Was configured to start. The trigger for starting the communication control of the wireless LAN adapter 2 is not limited to this. For example, the wireless LAN adapter 2 is provided with a switch for switching ON / OFF, and the communication control of the wireless LAN adapter 2 is performed when the switch is turned on. It may be activated.

(3) In the above-described embodiment, the controller 22 of the wireless LAN adapter 2 performs the cryptographic analysis of the data received by the wireless LAN I / F 25. However, the cryptographic analysis is not necessarily performed. May not be performed.

(4) In the above-described embodiment, original encryption may be used in addition to encryption of the wireless LAN standard. In this case, the information providing device 3 performs an original encryption process on the data and transmits the data to the communication terminal 1, and the wireless LAN adapter 2 analyzes the received data and outputs the data to the terminal device 1. May be. By doing so, it is possible to prevent a person who has a computer that can use wireless LAN communication from transmitting and receiving data in the provided wireless LAN environment regardless of intention or accident.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of the system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of a wireless LAN adapter. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of a terminal device. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of an information provision apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Terminal device, 2 ... Wireless LAN adapter, 3 ... Information provision apparatus, 4 ... Access point, 5 ... Communication network, 11 ... Control part, 12 ... Memory | storage part, 13 ... Display part, 14 ... Operation part, 15 ... USB Slot, 16 ... Microphone, 17 ... Audio processing unit, 18 ... Speaker, 21 ... USB connection terminal, 22 ... Controller, 23 ... Storage unit, 24 ... Wired LAN I / F, 25 ... Wireless LAN I / F, 31 ... Control unit, 32 ... Storage unit, 34 ... Operation unit, 35 ... Communication unit, 231 ... Wireless LAN mode setting storage area.

Claims (3)

A terminal connected to the input / output terminal of the computer;
A wired LAN interface for communicating with the computer via the terminal;
Setting information storage means for storing setting information for performing wireless communication;
A wireless LAN interface that exchanges data with a wireless access point based on a predetermined protocol based on the setting information stored in the setting information storage unit, and transmits and receives the data to and from the wired LAN interface;
An access prohibiting unit that prohibits access from the computer to the setting information storage unit. The communication adapter according to claim 1, wherein the wired LAN interface is operated by a driver installed in the computer. The setting information includes encryption type information indicating the type of encryption method,
A decoding means for decoding data received by the wireless LAN interface in accordance with encryption type information stored in the setting information storage means and outputting the decoded data to the wired LAN interface. Item 3. The communication adapter according to item 1 or 2.

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