JP2009088920A - Wireless lan terminal and wireless control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To properly perform appropriate wireless control in response to the statuses of peripheral access points. <P>SOLUTION: An upper-side threshold value 12A for deciding the intensity of a receiving signal and a lower-side threshold value 12B lower than the upper-side threshold value are stored previously in a wireless storage section 12. The number of access points capable of communicating with a wireless LAN terminal is detected by an access-point detecting section 13A on the basis of beacon signals from the access points. When the detected access point is one, the lower-side threshold value is selected as a changeover threshold value by a changeover threshold-value selecting section 13B. When the detected access points are plural, the upper-side threshold value is selected as the changeover threshold value by the changeover threshold-value selecting section 13B. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless LAN terminal technology, and more particularly to a wireless control technology for continuing wireless communication by switching access points.

  In the wireless LAN system, as the wireless LAN terminal moves, so-called roaming (Roaming) is performed in which wireless communication is continued by switching the connection from the currently connected access point to another access point (handover). ).

In such a roaming function, the wireless LAN terminal determines whether or not the access point needs to be switched by checking the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the radio wave from the access point.
That is, a threshold value for switching the received signal strength is set in advance, the received signal strength of the current access point is compared with the switching threshold value, and when the received signal strength falls below the switching threshold value, Switch the connection from an access point to an access point with better signal conditions.

JP 2007-124113 A

However, in such a conventional technique, one fixed value is used as the threshold value for switching received signal strength.
For this reason, when there is only one access point in the vicinity of the wireless LAN terminal, the connection with the access point is disconnected when the received signal strength falls below the switching threshold value. Since it does not exist, there is a problem of performing an unstable operation of connecting to the original access point again.

  In addition, if the switching threshold is set low, the occurrence of unstable operation as described above can be suppressed to some extent, but connection switching to other access points tends to be delayed, so the current received signal strength is low. There is a problem that the access point cannot be switched immediately even though there are other access points with better radio wave conditions than the access point.

  An object of the present invention is to solve such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wireless LAN terminal and a wireless control method capable of performing appropriate wireless control according to the situation of surrounding access points.

  In order to achieve such an object, the wireless LAN terminal according to the present invention detects the received signal strength of a radio wave transmitted from an access point, and when the received signal strength falls below a predetermined switching threshold. A wireless LAN terminal that switches an access point used for wireless LAN communication to another access point, and has an upper threshold value for determining received signal strength and a lower threshold value that is lower than the upper threshold value. There is one wireless storage unit to store, an access point detection unit that detects the number of access points that can communicate with the wireless LAN terminal based on a beacon signal from the access point, and one access point detected by the access point detection unit. Select the lower threshold value as the switching threshold value, and switch the switching threshold when there are multiple detected access points. And a switching threshold selection unit for selecting an upper threshold as a value.

  Also, the wireless control method according to the present invention detects the received signal strength of a radio wave transmitted from an access point by a wireless LAN terminal having a wireless storage unit and a wireless control unit, and the received signal strength is a predetermined switching threshold. A wireless control method for switching an access point used for wireless LAN communication to another access point when the value falls below the upper threshold value for determining the received signal strength, and a lower value lower than the upper threshold value A side storage threshold value by the wireless storage unit, a step by which the wireless control unit detects the number of access points that can communicate with the wireless LAN terminal based on a beacon signal from the access point, and a detected access point When there is one, the lower threshold is selected as the switching threshold by the radio control unit, and the detected access point For multiple and a step of selecting the upper threshold as a threshold value for switching the radio control unit.

  According to the present invention, when there is only one access point that can communicate, it is difficult to switch the access point, and even though there is only one access point, switching to another access point is performed. It is possible to suppress the occurrence of unstable operation. In addition, when there are a plurality of communicable access points, the access point can be easily switched, and the access point can be switched to obtain a better communication environment.

  For this reason, it becomes possible to perform appropriate access point control according to the situation of surrounding access points, and roaming of wireless LAN communication can be performed stably. Further, when the present invention is applied to a wireless LAN telephone, even when the wireless LAN telephone is carried around while making a telephone call, it is possible to suppress the disconnection or interruption of the telephone call and to realize a high-quality wireless telephone call.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[Wireless LAN terminal]
First, a wireless LAN terminal 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 LAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The wireless LAN terminal 10 is composed of a portable information communication terminal such as a wireless telephone terminal or a PDA, and has a function of connecting to an access point by wireless LAN communication to perform data communication, and an access point 21 connected to a communication network 30. , 22 detects the received signal strength of the radio wave detected from the radio waves transmitted from the radio wave 22, and when the received signal strength falls below a predetermined switching threshold, the access point used for wireless LAN communication is transferred to another access point. And a switching function.

  In this embodiment, in such a wireless LAN terminal, an upper threshold value for determining the received signal strength and a lower threshold value lower than the upper threshold value are stored in the wireless storage unit. Based on the beacon signal from the access point, the number of access points that can communicate with the wireless LAN terminal is detected by the wireless control unit. If there is one detected access point, the wireless control unit sets the lower threshold as the switching threshold value. A threshold is selected, and when there are a plurality of detected access points, the upper threshold is selected as a switching threshold by the radio control unit.

Next, the configuration of the wireless LAN terminal 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. Here, a case where the wireless LAN terminal 10 is a wireless telephone terminal will be described as an example.
The wireless LAN terminal 10 includes, as main functional units, a wireless interface unit (hereinafter referred to as a wireless I / F unit) 11, a wireless storage unit 12, a wireless control unit 13, a voice processing unit 14, a display unit 15, an operation input. A unit 16, a storage unit 17, and a terminal control unit 18 are provided.

  The wireless I / F unit 11 includes a dedicated communication circuit, and performs a function of performing wireless data communication with an access point based on a wireless LAN protocol, and transmits a beacon signal from another access point while connected to an arbitrary access point. A function of detecting a received signal strength of a radio wave received and transmitted from the access point (background scan function), and a function of inspecting an access point capable of communicating with the wireless LAN terminal 10 based on a beacon signal from the access point If the received signal strength of the access point is lower than the switching threshold set in the internal storage unit (not shown) of the wireless I / F unit 11 in advance, the access point is enabled for wireless LAN communication. And a function of switching. In addition, what is necessary is just to implement | achieve these functions in the radio | wireless I / F part 11 using a well-known technique.

  The wireless storage unit 12 includes a storage device such as a memory, and stores an upper threshold value 12A and a lower threshold value 12B as processing information used by the wireless control unit 13. The upper threshold value 12A and the lower threshold value 12B are switching threshold values used for access point switching determination in the wireless I / F unit 11, and one of them is selected by the wireless control unit 13 and the wireless I / F section 11 is set.

The wireless control unit 13 includes a dedicated control circuit and has a function of controlling the wireless I / F unit 11. The wireless control unit 13 is provided with an access point detection unit 13A and a switching threshold selection unit 13B as main processing functions.
The access point detection unit 13A has a function of detecting the number of access points that can communicate with the wireless LAN based on a beacon signal from the access point.
The switching threshold selection unit 13B selects the lower threshold as the switching threshold when the number of access points detected by the access point detection unit 13A is 1, and switches when the number of access points is plural. A function of selecting the upper threshold value as a threshold value and a function of setting the selected function in the internal storage unit of the wireless I / F unit 11 are provided.

The audio processing unit 14 decodes the audio packet received by the wireless I / F unit 11 and outputs the obtained audio signal from a speaker (not shown), and the audio input from a microphone (not shown). It has a function of encoding a signal and outputting the obtained voice packet to the wireless I / F unit 11.
The display unit 15 includes a screen display device such as an LCD, and has a function of displaying various information such as operation menus and e-mails on the screen in accordance with instructions from the terminal control unit 18.
The operation input unit 16 includes operation input devices such as buttons, switches, and keyboards, and has a function of detecting a user operation and outputting it to the terminal control unit 18.

The storage unit 17 includes a storage device such as a memory or a hard disk, and has a function of storing various processing information and programs 15P used by the terminal control unit 18.
The terminal control unit 18 includes an arithmetic processing unit such as a CPU, and reads and executes a program from the storage unit 17 to execute application functions such as a voice call using wireless LAN communication and a telephone directory added to the telephone. Realize.

[Operation of wireless LAN terminal]
Next, a switching threshold selection operation of the wireless LAN terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing switching threshold selection processing of the wireless LAN terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention.
When the wireless LAN terminal 10 is turned on, the wireless control unit 13 starts the switching threshold selection process of FIG.

  In the switching threshold selection process of FIG. 2, the wireless control unit 13 first selects the upper threshold value of the wireless storage unit 12 by the switching threshold selection unit 13B and stores the internal storage of the wireless I / F unit 11. (Step 100), and waits until an intermittent detection timing arrives, for example, at a fixed period or at the start of wireless data communication (step 101: NO).

  When the detection timing has arrived (101: YES), the wireless control unit 13 detects the number of access points that can communicate with the wireless LAN terminal 10 by using the access point detection unit 13A (step 102). At this time, the access point detection unit 13A instructs the wireless I / F unit 11 to inspect the access point, and detects the number of access points from the inspection result obtained by the wireless I / F unit 11. For example, when the identification information of the access point is notified as the inspection result for each access point found from the wireless I / F unit 11, the number of access points can be detected by counting the number of different identification information.

  Next, the wireless control unit 13 determines whether the number of access points detected by the access point detection unit 13A is one (step 103). If the number of access points is one (step 103: YES), the switching threshold value The selection unit 13B selects the lower threshold value 12B of the wireless storage unit 12 and sets it to the internal storage unit of the wireless I / F unit 11 (step 104), returns to step 101, and the next detection timing arrives Wait until

On the other hand, when the number of access points is plural in step 103 (step 103: NO), the switching threshold selection unit 13B selects the upper threshold value 12A of the wireless storage unit 12 and the wireless I / F unit 11 The internal storage unit is set (step 105), and the process returns to step 101 and waits until the next detection timing comes.
As a result, when there is only one access point that can communicate with the wireless LAN terminal 10 in the internal storage unit of the wireless I / F unit 11, the lower threshold value 12B is set as the switching threshold value. When there are a plurality of access points that can communicate with the LAN terminal 10, the lower threshold value 12B is set as the switching threshold value.

[Operation example of wireless LAN terminal]
Next, an example of an access point switching threshold selection operation of the wireless LAN terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an access point switching threshold value selection operation (when there is one access point) of the wireless LAN terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing an access point switching threshold selection operation example (when there is one access point) of the wireless LAN terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an access point switching threshold value selection operation (when there are a plurality of access points) of the wireless LAN terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a timing chart showing an access point switching threshold selection operation example (when there are a plurality of access points) of the wireless LAN terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[When there is only one access point]
First, with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, a case where there is no single access point that can communicate with a wireless LAN terminal will be described.
In the wireless LAN terminal 10, it is assumed that the upper threshold (RthH) 12A is selected as the switching threshold by the switching threshold selection unit 13B at time T0, and the access point 21 is selected as the communication access point. It is assumed that Therefore, after time T0, the wireless I / F unit 11 performs access point switching determination by comparing the received signal strength (RSSI) of the access point 21 with the upper threshold 12A.

  Thereafter, when the wireless LAN terminal 10 starts moving away from the access point 21 at time T1, the received signal strength (RSSI) of the access point 21 detected by the wireless I / F unit 11 starts to decrease.

  When the detection timing arrives at the subsequent time T2, the access point search unit 13A detects the number of communicable access points. Here, when the detection of the access point is completed at the time TA and there is one detected access point, the switching threshold selection unit 13B selects the lower threshold 12B (RthL) as the switching threshold, Set to the wireless I / F unit 11. Therefore, after time T2, the wireless I / F unit 11 performs access point switching determination by comparing the received signal strength of the access point 21 with the lower threshold 12B.

Thereafter, it is assumed that the wireless LAN terminal 10 moves further away from the access point 21 and the received signal strength (RSSI) of the access point 21 falls below the upper threshold value 12A at time TB.
At this time, if the upper threshold value 12A is set as the switching threshold value, the wireless I / F unit 11 performs a switching operation from the access point 21 to a different access point, and there is no different point. The unstable operation of selecting the access point 21 is repeated.

  In contrast, in the present embodiment, lower threshold 12B is set as the switching threshold at time T2, and the received signal strength (RSSI) of access point 21 at time TB is the lower threshold. Since the value is 12B or more, the access point switching operation in the wireless I / F unit 11 is not performed. For this reason, the unstable operation as described above does not occur.

[When there are multiple access points]
Next, a case where there are a plurality of access points that can communicate with the wireless LAN terminal will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.
In the wireless LAN terminal 10, it is assumed that the upper threshold 12A is selected as the switching threshold by the switching threshold selection unit 13B at time T0, and the access point 21 among the access points 21 and 22 is for communication. It is assumed that it is selected as an access point. Therefore, after time T0, the wireless I / F unit 11 performs access point switching determination by comparing the received signal strength (RSSIa) of the access point 21 and the upper threshold 12A (RthH).

  Thereafter, when the wireless LAN terminal 10 starts moving away from the access point 21 and approaching the access point 22 at time T1, the received signal strength (RSSSIa) of the access point 21 detected by the wireless I / F unit 11 is detected. ) Begins to decrease, and the received signal strength (RSSIb) of the access point 22 begins to increase.

  When the detection timing arrives at the subsequent time T2, the access point search unit 13A detects the number of communicable access points. Here, when the detection of the access point is completed at time TA and a plurality of access points 21 and 22 are detected, the switching threshold selection unit 13B selects the upper threshold 12A as the switching threshold, Set to the wireless I / F unit 11. Therefore, after time T2, the wireless I / F unit 11 performs access point switching determination by comparing the received signal strength of the access point 21 with the upper threshold value 12A.

Thereafter, it is assumed that the wireless LAN terminal 10 moves further away from the access point 21 and the received signal strength of the access point 21 falls below the upper threshold value 12A at time TB.
Thereby, the wireless I / F unit 11 performs a switching operation from the access point 21 to a different access point 22, and the wireless LAN communication is continued using the access point 22.

[Effects of the present embodiment]
As described above, in the present embodiment, in the wireless LAN terminal, the upper threshold for determining the received signal strength and the lower threshold lower than the upper threshold are stored in the wireless storage unit. The number of access points that can communicate with the wireless LAN terminal is detected by the wireless control unit based on the beacon signal from the access point, and when the number of detected access points is one, the wireless control unit sets the threshold value as a switching threshold. A side threshold value is selected, and when there are a plurality of detected access points, the radio control unit selects the upper threshold value as a switching threshold value.

  Therefore, when there is only one access point that can communicate, it is difficult to switch the access point, and there is only one access point, but the instability to switch to another access point. The occurrence of erratic operation can be suppressed. In addition, when there are a plurality of communicable access points, the access point can be easily switched, and the access point can be switched to obtain a better communication environment.

  For this reason, it becomes possible to perform appropriate access point control according to the situation of surrounding access points, and roaming of wireless LAN communication can be performed stably. In addition, if this embodiment is applied to a wireless LAN telephone, even when the wireless LAN telephone is carried around while making a call, it is possible to suppress the disconnection or interruption of the telephone call and to realize a high-quality wireless telephone call. Become.

[Extended embodiment]
Although the case where the wireless control unit 13 and the wireless storage unit 12 are provided separately from the wireless I / F unit 11 and the terminal control unit 18 has been described above as an example, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the wireless control unit 13 and the wireless storage unit 12 may be incorporated in the wireless I / F unit 11, the wireless control unit 13 may be realized by the terminal control unit 18, and the wireless storage unit 12 is stored in the storage unit 17. It may be realized with.

  In the switching threshold selection process, the switching threshold selected according to the number of access points is set as an example in the internal storage unit of the wireless I / F 11 each time it is selected. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Not only when the number of access points changes from one or more to one, or when the switching threshold changes from one of the upper threshold 12A and the lower threshold 12B to the other Only in the internal storage unit of the wireless I / F 11. Thereby, the number of accesses to the internal storage unit of the wireless I / F unit 11 can be significantly reduced, and the processing time required for the switching threshold selection process can be shortened. In addition, the number of times of writing to the internal storage unit of the wireless I / F unit 11 can be suppressed, and particularly when a non-volatile memory with a limited number of writings is used as the internal storage unit, there is a significant increase in memory life and the like. Effects can be obtained.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the wireless LAN terminal concerning one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the switching threshold value selection process of the wireless LAN terminal concerning one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the access point switching threshold value selection operation example (when there is one access point) of the wireless LAN terminal concerning one embodiment of this invention. It is a timing chart which shows the access point switching threshold value selection operation example (when there is one access point) of the wireless LAN terminal concerning one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the access point switching threshold value selection operation example (when there are multiple access points) of the wireless LAN terminal concerning one embodiment of this invention. It is a timing chart which shows the access point switching threshold value selection operation example (when there are multiple access points) of the wireless LAN terminal concerning one embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Wireless LAN terminal (wireless LAN telephone), 11 ... Wireless I / F part, 12 ... Wireless storage part, 12A ... Upper threshold value, 12B ... Lower threshold value, 13 ... Wireless control part, 13A ... Access point Detection unit, 13B ... Switching threshold value selection unit, 14 ... Audio processing unit, 15 ... Display unit, 16 ... Operation input unit, 17 ... Storage unit, 18 ... Terminal control unit, 21, 22 ... Access point, 30 ... Communication network.

Claims (2)

A wireless LAN terminal that detects the received signal strength of a radio wave transmitted from an access point and switches the access point used for wireless LAN communication to another access point when the received signal strength falls below a predetermined switching threshold. There,
A wireless storage unit for storing an upper threshold for determining the received signal strength and a lower threshold lower than the upper threshold;
An access point detector that detects the number of access points that can communicate with the wireless LAN terminal based on a beacon signal from the access point;
When the access point detected by the access point detector is one, the lower threshold is selected as the switching threshold, and when there are a plurality of detected access points, the upper threshold is selected as the switching threshold. A wireless LAN terminal comprising: a switching threshold selection unit that selects a threshold. The wireless LAN terminal having the wireless storage unit storage unit and the wireless control unit detects the received signal strength of the radio wave transmitted from the access point, and when the received signal strength falls below a predetermined switching threshold, the wireless LAN terminal A wireless control method for switching an access point used for communication to another access point,
Storing an upper threshold value for determining the received signal strength and a lower threshold value lower than the upper threshold value by the wireless storage unit;
Detecting, by the wireless control unit, the number of access points that can communicate with the wireless LAN terminal based on a beacon signal from the access point;
When the detected access point is one, the lower threshold is selected as the switching threshold by the radio control unit, and when there are a plurality of detected access points, the switching threshold is selected by the radio control unit. And a step of selecting the upper threshold value as a value.

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