JP2010062914A - Electronic apparatus with wireless communication functions, and wireless connection range calculation method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable electronic apparatus having wireless communication functions for connecting a wireless connection at a hot spot and to estimate a hot spot range, without having to gather information associated with an access point by a user. <P>SOLUTION: When the start of beacon reception from the access point is detected (S401), when the electronic apparatus having wireless communication functions move, present current location V is specified (S402). When the electronic equipment further moves and the beacon reception ceases (S410), a current place W is specified (S411). The hot spot range is estimated based on the specified positions V and W (S412). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device having a wireless communication function for performing wireless connection at a hot spot.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an electronic device having a wireless communication function, a navigation device that performs wireless connection with an access point at a hot spot and downloads various information from various content distribution servers connected to a wide area communication network is known.

For example, in the navigation device described in Patent Document 1, wireless reachable distance data can be recorded in facility data of a facility where an access point is installed, and a hot spot can be displayed on a map display screen.
JP 2003-302232 A

  However, in the navigation device described in Patent Document 1, a user needs to download a list of facilities where access points are installed in advance.

(1) An electronic device according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a display unit that displays characters and graphics on a display screen together with a road map, a current location detection unit that detects a current location, and a base station connected to a wide area communication network. Receiving means for receiving a radio signal transmitted from the reception means, receiving state detecting means for detecting start and end of reception based on the radio signal received by the receiving means, and reception start and end of reception of the radio signal in the receiving state When detected by the detection means, control is performed so as to store the reception start position data indicating the reception start position detected by the current position detection means and the reception end position data indicating the reception end position in association with an identifier indicating the base station. A position data storage control unit that performs radio communication with an area specified based on at least reception start position data and reception end position data. It is characterized by comprising area data storage control means for controlling to store area data corresponding to the reception area including reception start position data and reception end position data.
(2) The wireless connection range calculation method according to the second aspect of the present invention detects the current location of an electronic device having a wireless communication function and starts receiving a wireless signal transmitted from a base station connected to a wide area communication network. A position and a reception end position are detected, and a wireless connection range with the base station is calculated based on the reception start position and the reception end position.

  According to the present invention, an electronic device having a wireless communication function estimates and stores a reception range of a wireless signal autonomously while the electronic device is moving, and thus does not require information collection about a base station by a user. effective.

  An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an in-vehicle navigation device will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example in which a vehicle 10 equipped with an in-vehicle navigation device of the present embodiment travels on a route including a hot spot 40 that can be wirelessly connected to an access point 30 arranged in a wide area communication network 20. is there.

  While traveling, the vehicle 10 detects reception of radio waves from the access point 30 (A) at the point “A”. If the vehicle continues to travel after that, it detects the inability to receive radio waves from the access point 30 (A) at another point “B”. It can be determined that the section between these points “A” and “B” is included in the range of the hot spot 40 (A) that forms a circular area that can be wirelessly connected to the access point 30 (A). Since the circular region cannot be derived by only two points on the circumference, the estimated range of the hot spot 40 (A) is assumed on the assumption that the points “A” and “B” are located at both ends of the diameter of the circular region. Shall be provisionally determined.

  Vehicle 10 continues to travel and detects reception of radio waves from access point 30 (B) at point “地点”. If the vehicle continues to travel after that, it detects the inability to receive radio waves from the access point 30 (B) at another point “Ding”. It can be determined that the section between these points “丙” and “Ding” is included in the range of the hot spot 40 (B) that forms a circular area that can be wirelessly connected to the access point 30 (B). At this time, there is a history that the vehicle 10 has traveled in the hot spot 40 (B) before, and in this case, the reception of the radio wave from the access point 30 (B) is detected at the point “戊”, and the reception is impossible. Assume that you have detected by yourself. Since the circular area can be derived at three points on the circumference, any one of the four points “丙” to “self” is used to guide the circular area. Any three points may be selected, for example, in the order of the latest passage time. The circular region thus derived is determined as the estimated range of the hot spot 40 (B).

  Next, the internal and peripheral configurations of the in-vehicle navigation device 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  The CPU 110 is an arithmetic processing device that controls the entire vehicle-mounted navigation device 100, and the CPU 110 and its peripheral devices are connected to each other via a bus. The peripheral devices include a main storage device 115, an auxiliary storage device 140, a wireless communication device 150, and a display module 160. The main storage device 115 has a work memory that is a work area of the CPU 110 and a program memory in which a control program is stored.

  In the CPU 110, signals from the current location detection device 120 and the user input device 130 are input. The current location detection device 120 includes a GPS sensor 121, a gyro sensor 122, and a vehicle speed sensor 123. The user input device 130 is, for example, a touch panel, a push button switch around the panel, a remote controller, or a joystick.

  The auxiliary storage device 140 is a storage device that stores road map data and POI (Point Of Interest) information used for navigation processing. The auxiliary storage device 140 may be, for example, a hard disk drive, a CD or DVD storing road map data, a flash memory, other recording media, and a reading device thereof.

  The road map data is information relating to the map, and includes map display data, route search data, and guidance data. The map display data is data for displaying the road and the background of the road map. The route search data is data including branch information that is not directly related to the road shape, and is mainly used when calculating a recommended route (route search). The guidance data is data including intersection name, road name, direction name, and direction guide facility information, and is used when the user is guided based on the calculated recommended route.

  In road map data, a single road is represented as link string data by defining intersections as nodes and defining links between nodes. Therefore, the link string data is composed of node data and link data. In the road map data, node data and link data are classified and stored in mesh area units together with mesh codes. The mesh area refers to each divided area when the road map is divided into predetermined ranges. A number for identifying the mesh area is stored in the mesh code storage area. In the link string data storage area, node position coordinates, link numbers representing links between nodes, and position coordinates of interpolation points that further divide the links are stored. These position coordinates are used as shape data for map display and locator processing.

  The auxiliary storage device 140 further stores hot spot data representing the range of the hot spot 40 and a setting profile for connection authentication with the access point 30. The display module 160 displays image data including characters and graphics output from the CPU 110 on the screen.

  When the wireless LAN traveling mode is set, the wireless communication device 150 executes an authentication procedure with the access point 30 when the beacon of the access point 30 is detected in the area of the hot spot 40, and the connection is established. If permitted, data transfer by wireless communication becomes possible. When the CPU 110 transmits / receives a message via this function, the in-vehicle navigation device 100 can download various information from various content distribution servers connected to the wide area communication network. The wireless communication device 150 is a wireless communication device compliant with a wireless LAN standard such as IEEE standard 802.11 (Wi-Fi) or IEEE standard 802.16 (WiMAX). The wireless LAN travel mode can be set from the menu screen of the navigation device 100 displayed on the display module 160.

  A specific procedure executed by the CPU 110 of the in-vehicle navigation device 100 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

  FIG. 3 shows a main routine in which the in-vehicle navigation device 100 estimates the hot spot area. The program for executing this main routine is executed, for example, in the background of route guidance processing when the wireless LAN traveling mode is set. In step S <b> 301, whether or not reception of a beacon from the access point 30 is notified from the wireless communication device 150 is monitored. When the vehicle enters the hot spot 40 and receives a beacon reception notification, an affirmative determination is made in step S301, the process proceeds to step S321, and the process proceeds to a subroutine “hot spot detection” (described later with reference to FIG. 4). . After this subroutine is finished, this main routine is also finished.

  If a negative determination is made in step S301, the process proceeds to step S302. In step S <b> 302, the current position of the vehicle 10 on the road map data is identified based on the input signal (current position signal) from the current position detection device 120, and is set as the position Z. In step S303, it is determined whether or not the specified position Z is included in the range of the known hot spot 40.

  In the hot spot range estimation procedure described later with reference to FIG. 5, data representing the estimated hot spot range (hereinafter also referred to as hot spot data) is stored in the auxiliary storage device 140. When the position Z specified in step S302 is included in the hot spot range on the map, it is determined in step S303 that the hot spot 40 is known. Here, the hot spot data stored in the auxiliary storage device 140 is managed as a database (described later with reference to FIG. 7). Therefore, the determination in step S303 is performed by searching for hot spot data including the position Z in this database. If the hot spot is not known and the determination in step S303 is negative, the process returns to step S301.

  The affirmative determination in step S303 suggests the possibility that a point that was previously included in the range of the hot spot 40 is not currently included. Possible causes include, for example, (1) the range of the hot spot 40 has been changed, (2) the access point 30 has been abolished, and (3) a temporary failure of the access point 30. It is done. In any case, whether or not a beacon is received is determined in step S304.

  A procedure when the determination in step S304 is affirmative, that is, when it is determined that a beacon has been received will be described. The determination in step S304 is affirmative when the range of the hot spot 40 has been changed. That is, it corresponds to the case of the assumed cause (1) described above in step S303. For example, a beacon is not received when the vehicle reaches the range represented by the hotspot data stored in the database, but a beacon is received before leaving the hotspot 40 range. When step S304 is affirmed, the process proceeds to step S331, where an obsolete counter, which will be described later, is reset and the obsolete count value “k” is set to zero. Subsequently, the process proceeds to a subroutine “hot spot detection” in step S321. After the subroutine is completed, the main routine is also terminated. When the process proceeds to step S321 via step S331, the hot spot data of the hot spot 40 whose range has been changed is corrected.

  If a negative determination is made in step S304, in step S305, the current position of the vehicle 10 on the road map data is identified based on the input signal from the current location detection device 120, and a new Let position Z be In step S306, it is determined whether or not the newly specified position Z is included in the range of the known hot spot 40 described in step S303. If a positive determination is made in step S306, the process returns to step S304. If a negative determination is made in step S306, the process proceeds to step S307. The negative determination in step S306 is, for example, when the vehicle 10 enters the circular area stored as the range of the hot spot 40 and then goes out of the circular area without receiving a beacon. The assumed causes (2) and (3) described above in step S303 correspond to this case. At this time, in step S307, the stale count value “k” set in the hot spot data including the range of the corresponding hot spot 40 is incremented.

  The obsolete count value “k” is used to determine whether to delete hot spot data that has become obsolete and has reduced reliability. In this embodiment, when the negative determination in step S306 occurs i times consecutively, the hot spot data is deleted. Specifically, in step S308, if k ≧ i is affirmatively determined, and if step S309 described later is affirmatively determined, the corresponding hot spot data is deleted in step S310, and this main routine is terminated. To do. If it is determined in step S308 that k ≧ i is negative, the main routine is immediately terminated.

  In step S309, it is determined whether or not “0” is set in the connection history flag “h”. The connection history flag “h” is set to “1” when the wireless connection process with the access point 30 as a target has been executed in the past, and set to “0” when there is no connection history (FIG. 4). It will be described later in the description). When the connection history flag “h” is “0”, an affirmative determination is made in step S309, and the process proceeds to step S310 as described above. On the other hand, if the connection history flag “h” is “1”, a negative determination is made in step S309, and the process proceeds to step S341. In step S341, it is determined whether or not the stale count value “k” is equal to (i + j). This is a process of increasing the upper limit value of the stale count value “k” to (i + j) only in the hot spot 40 having a connection history with the access point 30. If an affirmative determination is made in step S341, the process proceeds to step S310 described above. If a negative determination is made, the main routine is immediately terminated.

  The main routine is preferably started again immediately after completion.

  FIG. 4 shows a subroutine “hot spot detection” executed by the CPU 110 in step S321. In response to the start of this subroutine, in step S401, it is determined whether or not beacon reception from the access point 30 is started. This is determined by the presence / absence of a beacon reception start notification from the wireless communication device 150. In step S <b> 402, the current position of the vehicle 10 on the road map data is identified based on the input signal from the current position detection device 120 and set as a position V.

  In step S403, it is determined whether or not the hot spot 40 including the current location V is known. Specifically, the determination is made by the same process as step S303 in FIG. If a positive determination is made in step S403, the process proceeds to step S404. If a negative determination is made, the process proceeds to step S421 described later.

  In step S404, it is determined whether or not the connection authentication profile X for connecting to the access point 30 is stored in the auxiliary storage device 140. Note that the connection authentication profile X includes, for example, an ESSID (Extended Service Set Indication) or WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) key for each access point 30 in the case of a wireless LAN connection conforming to the IEEE standard 802.11. The auxiliary storage device 140 is collectively stored and managed. In addition, in order to access, for example, the wide area communication network 20 to which various content distribution servers are connected via the access point 30, authentication parameters based on connection destination ISP setting data, a user ID, and a password may be required. Therefore, the auxiliary storage device 140 manages the connection destination ISP setting data and its authentication parameters.

  The search key for searching the connection authentication profile X is preferably an identifier that can uniquely identify the access point 30, for example, the access point 30 included in the beacon received from the access point 30. MAC address (Media Access Control Address) can be used as a search key.

  If a positive determination is made in step S404, the profile X is called from the auxiliary storage device 140 in step S405. The called profile X is set in the wireless communication device 150, connection authentication with the access point 30 is performed, and wireless connection is established. In subsequent step S406, “1” is set to the connection history flag “h”.

  If a negative determination is made in step S403 or step S404, the user is allowed to select whether or not to perform connection authentication and wireless connection based on user input in step S421. For example, a menu for connection authentication and wireless connection is displayed on the screen of the display module 160. When the user selects connection authentication and wireless connection with the access point 30 via the user input device 130, a screen for inputting the connection authentication profile X is displayed. Subsequently, when the user sets the connection authentication profile X via the user input device 130, the CPU 110 sets the profile X in the wireless communication device 150 and wirelessly connects to the access point 30. If a positive determination is made in step S421, control is performed so that the connection authentication profile X is stored in the auxiliary storage device 140 in step S422. Then, the process proceeds to step S406 described above.

  If a negative determination is made in step S421, “0” is set to the connection history flag “h” in step S431.

  In step S407, a reception monitoring timer for beacons periodically transmitted from the connected access point 30 is started. When the periodic reception of this beacon stops, CPU 110 determines that vehicle 10 has gone out of range of hot spot 40 that can be wirelessly connected to connected access point 30. Therefore, if the vehicle is traveling within the range of the hot spot 40, the determination is affirmed and the process returns to step S407 every time a beacon is received, and the monitoring timer is restarted. When reception of the beacon stops, a negative determination is made in step S408, and the monitoring timer is stopped in step S409. Accordingly, it is determined in step S410 that beacon reception from the access point 30 has stopped. In the subsequent step S411, it is specified based on an input signal from the current position detection device 120 as to which position the vehicle 10 is currently located on the road map data, and is set as a position W.

  Thereafter, the process proceeds to a subroutine “Hot spot range estimation” (see FIG. 5) in step S412, and after the subroutine is finished, this subroutine is also finished.

  FIG. 5 shows a subroutine “hot spot range estimation” executed by the CPU 110 in step S412. In response to the start of this subroutine, in step S501, the auxiliary storage device 140 searches for hot spot data of the hot spot 40 using the search key used in step S403 described above. If hot spot data exists, an affirmative determination is made in step S501 and the process proceeds to step S502. In step S502, position data different from the positions V and W specified in steps S402 and S410 are searched. If there is corresponding position data, an affirmative determination is made in step S503. If there are a plurality of corresponding position data, the latest position data is extracted from the plurality of corresponding position data in step S504. Hereinafter, the position on the map represented by the position data is referred to as a position U.

  In step S505, a circular area S having three points U, V, and W specified in steps S402, S410, and S504 on the circumference is specified on the road map data. At that time, it may be specified using coordinate data based on latitude and longitude, or may be specified using a mesh code. Alternatively, if it is assumed that the vehicle 10 travels only on a road or a facility facing the road, the vehicle 10 may be specified using link string data. As described above, the CPU 110 can superimpose the range of the hot spot 40 on the map based on the road map data through the display module 160 and display it on the screen.

  In step S506, the area data S representing the range of the hot spot 40, the position data U, V, W, the connection authentication profile X, the stale count value “k”, and the connection history flag “h” are stored in the new hot spot. The existing hot spot data stored in the auxiliary storage device 140 is updated as data, and this subroutine is terminated.

  If a negative determination is made in step S501, a circle region S having two points V and W identified in steps S402 and S410 on the circumference is displayed on the road map data in step S511. To identify. As described above in the description of FIG. 1, since the circular region S cannot be derived by only two points on the circumference, the two points of the positions V and W are assumed to be located at both ends of the diameter of the circular region S. It is assumed that the circle region S provisionally determined is specified. In step S512, the area data S representing the range of the hot spot 40, the position data V and W, the connection authentication profile X, the stale count value “k”, and the connection history flag “h” are supplemented as hot spot data. The data is stored as new data in the storage device 140 and this subroutine is terminated.

  The negative determination in step S503 is as follows. In other words, this is a case where the vehicle travels on the same route as the travel route when the positions V and W are previously stored as hot spot data. In this case, the vehicle is traveling on the same route, and new position data that should be added to the hot spot data cannot be obtained. If a negative determination is made in step S503, the process proceeds to step S511 described above.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating hot spot data managed as a database. In the access point name, a value for specifying the access point 30 whose connection range is the hot spot 40 represented by the hot spot data is set. For example, an SSID (Service Set Indication) value included in a beacon received by CPU 110 executing the specific procedure described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 is used. The position data number represents the number of subsequent position data. In the example shown in FIG. 6, since the position data of the positions U, V, and W are stored together with the data of the date and time when the vehicle 10 passed through these positions, the number of position data is “3”. On the other hand, in the hot spot data stored in step S512 of FIG. 5, the position data of the positions V and W are stored together with the data of the date and time when the vehicle 10 passed through these positions. “2”.

  As the center point coordinates and radius of the circular area S, the center point coordinates and radius of the circular area S of the hot spot 40 specified in step S505 or S511 of FIG. 5 are stored. The hot spot data further stores the connection authentication profile X, the stale count value “k”, and the connection history flag “h”.

  A display example of the display screen 210 in the in-vehicle navigation device 100 when the hot spot estimation process according to the present invention is executed will be described with reference to FIG. The display screen 210 is a screen on which graphics and characters are displayed on the display panel included in the display module 150. A map based on the road map data is displayed on the display screen 210, and the icon 220 displays the current location of the vehicle 10 based on a signal input from the current location detection device 120 to the CPU 110.

  The thick line encircled area 230, the thin line encircled area 240, and the broken line encircled area 250 that are displayed superimposed on the map on the display screen 210 all store the hot spot estimation process according to the present invention in the past. A hot spot 40 is shown. A thick line encircled area 230 represents a hot spot 40 having a connection history, and can be specified by searching using a connection history flag “h” in the hot spot data as a key. The thin line enclosed area 240 represents a hot spot that has no connection history and includes three position data, and is specified by searching using the connection history flag “h” and the number of position data “3” in the hot spot data as keys. it can. A broken-line enclosed area 250 represents a hot spot that has no connection history and includes only two or less position data. Search using the connection history flag “h” and the number of position data “2” or less in the hot spot data as keys. Can be identified.

  In addition, by including a hot spot estimation range temporary determination flag in the hot spot data, the hot spot estimation range temporary determination flag may be used as a key instead of the number of position data. In this case, in the subroutine “hot spot range estimation” described above with reference to FIG. 5, the hot spot estimated range provisional determination flag is set to “1” when the circular region S is derived from two points on the circumference, and the circle When deriving the circular area S from the three points on the circumference, the hot spot estimation range provisional determination flag is set to “0”. The value of the hot spot estimation range provisional determination flag set in this way is stored together with the center point coordinate value and radius data of the circular area S in the hot spot data illustrated in FIG. 6, for example.

The vehicle-mounted navigation device 100 according to the present embodiment described above has the following operational effects.
(1) While the vehicle 10 is traveling, the position data of the point where the reception of the beacon periodically transmitted by the access point 30 and the position data of the point determined to stop the periodic transmission of the beacon are stored. did. And based on these position data, it comprised so that the range of the hot spot 40 which can be wirelessly connected to the access point 30 was estimated. Thereby, the in-vehicle navigation device 100 can autonomously estimate the range of the hot spot 40 without inputting the scattered information about the location of the access point 30 and the wireless reachable distance collected by the user himself / herself. Further, since it is possible to immediately respond to the new establishment or renewal of the access point 30, it is extremely convenient.
(2) The known hot spot data stored when traveling in the past is configured to include the stale count value “k”. Then, the hot spot data in which the obsolete count value “k” exceeds the threshold value i is deleted. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the hot spot data corresponding to the access point 30 from being deleted immediately when the access point 30 is temporarily stopped due to a failure, for example.
(3) The known hot spot data stored when traveling in the past is configured to include the connection history flag “h” in addition to the stale count value “k”. The abolition of the access point 30 having the connection history is deleted when the stale count value “k” exceeds the threshold value (i + j). As a result, it is possible to prevent a situation in which the connection authentication profile is reset by user input at a later date because it is erroneously determined to be abolished.
(4) When displaying the range estimated for the hot spot 40 on the display screen 210, based on the connection history flag “h” included in the hot spot data and the number of position data (or the hot spot estimated range provisional determination flag). , It was configured to adopt different display forms. Thereby, the discriminability of the hot spot 40 can be improved and a user during driving can be prevented from gazing at the display screen 210.

---- Modified example ---
(1) In the description of FIG. 4 described above, when a connection authentication profile is stored for the access point 30, the connection authentication profile is immediately called, set, and connected automatically in step S404. To run. However, instead of executing immediately, it may be executed after receiving an instruction by a user input.

(2) In the description of FIG. 6 described above, in order to identify the hot spot 40 that has been stored in the past by executing the hot spot estimation process according to the present invention, the thick line enclosed area 230, the thin line enclosed area 240, and Although displayed as a dashed-line enclosed region 250, the type of the outer peripheral line may be other types. Further, the outer peripheral line or the inside of the enclosed area may be colored so that it can be identified by the type of color.

(3) In the description of FIG. 6 described above, the CPU 110 displays the hot spot data obtained by executing the specific procedure described in FIGS. 3 to 5 on the display screen 210 via the display module 160. . However, the acquired hot spot data may be uploaded to a content distribution server connected to the wide area communication network 20 via the wireless communication device 150. Similarly, hot spot data uploaded from another vehicle can be downloaded from the content distribution server by the CPU 110 via the wireless communication device 150 and stored in the auxiliary storage device 140. In that case, the hot spot data downloaded and stored may be displayed on the display screen 210 via the display module 160 by the display method described in FIG.

(4) In the description of FIG. 6 described above, the hot spot data obtained by the CPU 110 executing the specific procedure described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 is displayed on the display screen 210 via the display module 160 as a circular area. S was drawn and displayed. In this case, since the central point of the circular area S is estimated as the installation location of the access point 30, the latitude and longitude of the central point specified based on the road map data may be further superimposed and displayed. Further, the CPU 110 collects the SSID value included in the beacon received by executing the specific procedure described in FIGS. 3 to 5 from the hot spot data shown in FIG. You may superimpose and display.

(5) In the description of FIG. 6 described above, the CPU 110 executes the circular region S in which the hot spot 40 estimated by executing the specific procedure described with reference to FIGS. It was drawn and displayed on the display screen 210. In this case, based on the value of the SSID included in the beacon received when executing the specific procedure, it is determined whether or not the user is the access point 30 of the wireless communication carrier having the access right. Then, only the hot spot 40 representing the connection range to the access point 30 to be affirmed may be displayed. Note that the user has access right includes, for example, the case where connection authentication data for connecting to the access point 30 of the contracting business operator is not input.

(6) In the description of FIGS. 1 to 6 described above, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an in-vehicle navigation device has been described, but the application target is not limited thereto. Any device having a GPS sensor, road map data, and wireless communication device may be a PND (Personal Navigation Device), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a mobile phone, a portable personal computer, or a portable game machine.

(7) In the description of FIG. 3 described above, if k ≧ i is affirmed in step S308, in step S309, it is determined in step S341 whether or not the connection history flag “h” is set to “0”. Respectively determined whether or not the obsolete count value “k” is equal to (i + j). However, in steps S406 and S431 in FIG. 4, the upper limit “i” of the stale count value “k” corresponding to the connection history flag “h” is set to a corresponding value simultaneously with the setting of the connection history flag “h”. Then, step S309 and step S341 may be deleted from FIG.

  The above-described embodiments and modifications may be combined.

  In addition, the present invention is not limited to the device configurations in the above-described embodiment and its modifications unless the characteristic functions of the present invention are impaired. For example, a reception start position and a reception end position of a radio signal transmitted from a base station (access point) connected to a wide area communication network are detected, and based on the reception start position and the reception end position, A wireless connection range calculation method for calculating a wireless connection range (hot spot) is also included in the scope of the present invention.

The figure explaining the navigation apparatus by this invention The figure which shows the structural example of the navigation apparatus by this invention. Flowchart for explaining processing according to an embodiment FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing details of the hot spot detection start process The flowchart which shows the detail of the hot spot range estimation process of FIG. Diagram illustrating hotspot data managed as a database Figure of screen display example showing hotspot as a circle area

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Vehicle 20 Wide area communication network 30 Access point 40 Hot spot 100 Navigation apparatus 110 CPU
115 Main storage device 120 Current location detection device 121 GPS sensor 122 Gyro sensor 123 Vehicle speed sensor 130 User input device 140 Auxiliary storage device 150 Wireless communication device 160 Display module

Claims (9)

Display means for displaying characters and figures on a display screen together with a road map;
Current location detection means for detecting the current location;
Receiving means for receiving a radio signal transmitted from a base station connected to a wide area communication network;
A reception state detection means for detecting a reception start and a reception end based on the radio signal received by the reception means;
When the reception start and the reception end of the radio signal are detected by the reception state detection means, reception start position data representing the reception start position and reception end position data representing the reception end position detected by the current position detection means And position data storage control means for controlling to store in association with an identifier representing the base station,
An area specified based on at least the reception start position data and the reception end position data is defined as a reception range of the radio signal, and area data corresponding to the reception range is defined as the reception start position data and the reception end position data. An electronic apparatus having a wireless communication function, comprising: area data storage control means for controlling to include and store the data. The electronic device having a wireless communication function according to claim 1,
An electronic apparatus having a wireless communication function, wherein the reception range is a circular region having the reception start position and the reception end position at both ends of the diameter. The electronic device having a wireless communication function according to claim 1,
A circle in which three positions among a plurality of reception start position data corresponding to the same identifier stored in the past by the position data storage control means and a plurality of positions specified by the reception end position exist on the outer circumference. An electronic device having a wireless communication function, wherein an area is determined as the reception range. The electronic device having a wireless communication function according to claim 3,
An electronic apparatus having a wireless communication function, comprising: a drawing control unit that controls to draw the reception range on the display screen by superimposing on the road map based on the area data. The electronic device having a wireless communication function according to claim 4,
The reception range to be drawn by the drawing control means is three when the total of the reception start position data and the reception end position data included in the area data stored for each target base station is two. An electronic apparatus having a wireless communication function, characterized in that display is performed in a different display form in the above cases. The electronic device having a wireless communication function according to claim 5,
The wireless communication characterized in that the reception range drawn by the drawing control means is displayed in a different display form depending on whether or not the target base station has been wirelessly connected in the past. Electronic equipment with functions. The electronic device having a wireless communication function according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
Counting means for counting the number of times the wireless signal is not received at any position included in the reception range stored by the area data storage control means while the electronic device is moving;
An electronic apparatus having a wireless communication function, comprising: area data deletion control means for controlling to delete the area data corresponding to the reception range when the count value by the counting means reaches a predetermined value or more. The electronic device having a wireless communication function according to claim 7,
The predetermined value for the base station that has been wirelessly connected in the past is set to a value larger than the predetermined value for the base station that has not been wirelessly connected in the past. Electronics. Detect the reception start position and reception end position of the radio signal transmitted from the base station connected to the wide area communication network,
A wireless connection range calculation method, comprising: calculating a wireless connection range with the base station based on the reception start position and the reception end position.

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