JP2010109786A - Wireless communication system, and terminal and base station constituting the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To save power without deteriorating response performance of a terminal in a radio system. <P>SOLUTION: A terminal state switching command is transmitted to both a base station and a terminal by an RF remote controller. When a switching command to a terminal standby state is received from the remote controller, power supply to a receiver is suspended so as not to receive any beacon. When a switching command to a normal state is received from the remote controller, without receiving any beacon, power supply to the receiver is directly started in response to the command from the RF remote controller. Thus, there is an advantage that power can be saved while ensuring responsiveness. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a radio communication system that achieves both power saving and high responsiveness, and a terminal and a base station that constitute the radio communication system.

  In IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Engineering Engineers) 802.11, which is a general wireless LAN standard, an access point that is a base station periodically sends out a beacon at a set time interval. The communication is synchronized. The specification also defines a power consumption control function for suppressing the power consumption of the terminal.

  Specifically, an active mode (normal state) and a power-saving mode (standby state) are defined as the operation mode of the terminal, and the awake state (Awake: (Transmission / reception enabled state) and a doze (Doze: nap state) state that operates with a minimum amount of power are defined.

  In the active mode, the awake state is always set so that frames are transmitted and received at any time. In the power saving mode, the awake state and the doze state are regularly changed to save power.

  In addition, the terminal in the power saving mode transitions from the doze state to the awake state in accordance with the beacon transmission cycle, receives the beacon, and determines whether data addressed to itself is accumulated in the access point. In a terminal in such a power saving mode, the power consumption can be suppressed by increasing the dosing state in which a beacon is not received.

  However, since the beacon cannot be received in the doze state, the responsiveness of the terminal to the beacon from the base station deteriorates as the doze state becomes longer.

  On the other hand, as a technique for ensuring responsiveness while suppressing power consumption, for example, there is a method described in Patent Document 1. This method balances power consumption reduction and responsiveness by switching between a mode in which no beacon is received and a mode in which a beacon is received with good timing.

  In addition, in relation to the technology related to wireless communication between the base station and the terminal as described above, a television set including a tuner unit for receiving a broadcast and a display unit for displaying the broadcast received by the tuner unit, the tuner unit TVs that separate the display unit as a base station and a terminal and wirelessly transmit video data from the tuner unit to the display unit are being developed.

JP 2008-147780 A

  In Patent Document 1, it is possible to select whether priority is given to reducing power consumption or responsiveness by changing the beacon transmission cycle in accordance with the use state of the user. However, power consumption reduction and responsiveness are in a trade-off relationship and cannot be compatible.

  That is, when trying to ensure responsiveness as much as possible, the beacon transmission interval of the base station is shortened, and the terminal receives all beacons, so the power consumption increases. Conversely, when trying to suppress power consumption as much as possible, the beacon transmission interval of the base station is lengthened, and the response time until the terminal receives a beacon addressed to itself increases. Furthermore, if the terminal skips reception of the beacon addressed to itself, the response time increases.

  In particular, in a television that wirelessly transmits video data from the tuner unit to the display unit described above, the larger the video data to be wirelessly transmitted, the more power consumption and responsiveness are required. It will be something.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication system that reduces power consumption and does not degrade responsiveness, and a terminal and a base station that constitute the wireless communication system.

  To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a wireless communication system comprising a base station and a terminal for wirelessly communicating data, and a remote controller for transmitting a control command to the terminal, wherein the base station communicates with the terminal. The terminal is transmitted from the remote controller, a transmitter / receiver that wirelessly communicates data with the base station, a power supply that supplies power to the transmitter / receiver, and the terminal A first wireless communication system includes a sub-reception unit that receives a control command and a control unit that controls the transmission / reception unit and the power supply unit based on the control command received by the sub-reception unit.

  In the first wireless communication system, the control commands transmitted from the remote controller are a power saving mode command that considers power consumption suppression of the terminal and an active mode command that does not consider power consumption suppression of the terminal, When the control command is a power saving mode command, the control unit performs control so that power is not supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the terminal, and when the control command is an active mode command. Then, control is performed so that power is supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the terminal.

  According to the present invention, in the first wireless communication system, the base station includes a power supply unit that supplies power to the transmission / reception unit, a sub-reception unit that receives a control command transmitted from the remote controller, A second wireless communication system further includes a control unit that controls the transmission / reception unit and the power supply unit based on a control command received by the reception unit.

  In the second wireless communication system, the control commands transmitted from the remote controller are a power saving mode command that considers power consumption suppression of the terminal and an active mode command that does not consider power consumption suppression of the terminal, When the control command is a power saving mode command, the control unit performs control so that power is not supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the terminal, and when the control command is an active mode command. The base station control unit transmits and receives power from the power supply unit in the base station when the control command is a power saving mode command. If the control command is an active mode command, power is supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the base station. To control to be performed.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, the second wireless communication system is a third wireless communication system having a plurality of terminals that wirelessly communicate data with the base station.

  In the third wireless communication system, the control commands transmitted from the remote control are a power saving mode command that considers power consumption suppression of the terminal and an active mode command that does not consider power consumption suppression of the terminal, When the control command is a power saving mode command, the control unit performs control so that power is not supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the terminal, and when the control command is an active mode command. , Control to supply power from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the terminal, the control unit of the base station, if the control command for all terminals is a power saving mode command, Control is performed not to perform power supply from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the station, and when the control command related to any one terminal is an active mode command, It controls to perform power supply to the transceiver unit from the power supply unit in Chikyoku.

  Further, the present invention is a terminal in a wireless communication system comprising a base station and a terminal for wirelessly communicating data, and a remote controller for transmitting a control command to the terminal, and transmitting and receiving data wirelessly with the base station A power supply unit that supplies power to the transmission / reception unit, a sub-reception unit that receives a control command transmitted from the remote control, and the transmission / reception unit and the power supply unit based on the control command received by the sub-reception unit And a control unit that controls the terminal.

  In the terminal, the control commands transmitted from the remote control are a power saving mode command that considers power consumption suppression of the terminal and an active mode command that does not consider power consumption suppression of the terminal, and the control unit includes the control command Is a power saving mode command, control is performed so as not to supply power from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit, and when the control command is an active mode command, the power supply unit transmits to the transmission / reception unit. Control to supply power to

  Further, the present invention is a base station in a wireless communication system comprising a base station and a terminal for wirelessly communicating data, and a remote controller for transmitting a control command for the terminal, and transmitting and receiving data wirelessly with the terminal A power supply unit that supplies power to the transmission / reception unit, a sub-reception unit that receives a control command transmitted from the remote control, and the transmission / reception unit and the power supply unit based on the control command received by the sub-reception unit And a control unit that controls the base station.

  In the base station, the control commands transmitted from the remote control are a power saving mode command that considers power consumption suppression of the terminal and an active mode command that does not consider power consumption suppression of the terminal, and a terminal that wirelessly communicates data If there is one, the control unit controls the power supply unit not to supply power to the transmission / reception unit when the control command is a power saving mode command, and the control command is in an active mode. If it is an instruction, control is performed so that power is supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit.

  In the base station, the control commands transmitted from the remote control are a power saving mode command that considers power consumption suppression of the terminal and an active mode command that does not consider power consumption suppression of the terminal, and wirelessly communicates data If there are a plurality of terminals, the control unit performs control so that power supply from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit is not performed when control commands for all terminals are power saving mode commands. When the control command related to any one terminal is an active mode command, control is performed so that power is supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit.

  According to the radio communication system according to the present invention, and the terminal and base station constituting the radio communication system, the control command from the remote controller is received by both the terminal and the base station separately from the communication route between the terminal and the base station, Depending on whether the control command is an active mode command or a power saving mode command, the power supply to the transmission / reception unit is controlled. Therefore, while ensuring responsiveness in the radio communication system, the terminal and the base station The power supply can be controlled by each to reduce power consumption.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the device of the present invention, in which 11 is a base station device which is an access point, 12 is a terminal device, 13 is a command for turning on / off the power to the base station device 11 and the terminal device 12, etc. Is a remote control that transmits as a radio signal.

  The base station apparatus 11 controls transmission / reception means 111 for transmitting / receiving a beacon and data modulated into a radio signal, data processing means 112 for processing a MAC (Media Access Control) layer, transmission / reception means 111, and data processing means 112. The control means 113, the sub-transmission / reception means 114 for receiving radio signals from the remote controller 13, the main antenna 115 for the transmission / reception means 111, the sub-antenna 116 for the sub-transmission / reception means 114, the terminal ID of the terminal device 12 and the power status are stored. Terminal state storage means 118 to be stored, and remote control state storage means 119 to store registration information of the remote controller 13. There is always only one base station apparatus 11 on the communication system in the present embodiment.

  The terminal device 12 has the same transmission / reception means 121, data processing means 122, control means 123, sub-transmission / reception means 124, main antenna 125, sub-antenna 126, and power supply 127 that supplies power to the transmission / reception means 121, similar to the base station apparatus 11. The remote control state storage means 129 stores registration information of the remote control 13. The power supply 127 is controlled by the control means 123 and switches supply / stop of power to the transmission / reception means 121.

  Although only one terminal device 12 is shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of terminal devices can be connected and communicated on the communication network of this embodiment.

  Although not shown in FIG. 1, all terminal devices have unique terminal IDs, and the base station device 11 is notified of the terminal ID through the transmission / reception means 121, and the base station device 11 receives the terminal ID. By authenticating, it is registered on the communication network as a communicable terminal.

  Specifically, the base station apparatus 11 stores the terminal ID of the authenticated terminal in the terminal state storage unit 118. Further, the registered terminal device notifies the base station device 11 of its own power state, and the power state information is also stored in the terminal state storage unit 118.

  The remote controller 13 is a signal transmitting / receiving device using various wireless standards, and is usually called an RF remote controller. Unlike a general remote controller that uses highly directional infrared rays, a plurality of receiving means can easily receive the same signal.

  The sub-transmission / reception means 114 and 124 and the remote controller 13 can perform two-way communication. However, in the description of the embodiment of FIG. 1, the remote control 13 is a transmission means that modulates and transmits a control command of the terminal device 12. Only the function is used, and the sub transmission / reception means 114 and 124 are used only for the function as the reception means for receiving the signal.

  Although only one remote controller 13 is shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of remote controllers can be connected and communicated similarly to the terminal device. As in the case of the terminal device, each remote controller has a unique remote controller ID, and can communicate by notifying the base station device 11 of the remote controller ID, and the base station device 11 authenticates the remote controller ID. It is registered on the communication network as a remote controller. Similarly, the remote controller 13 notifies the terminal device 12 of the remote control ID, and when the terminal device 12 authenticates the remote control ID, it is registered on the communication network as a communicable remote controller. Specifically, the remote control ID of the authenticated remote controller is stored in the remote control state storage unit 119 in the base station apparatus 11 and in the remote control state storage unit 129 in the terminal apparatus 12. The command transmitted by the remote controller 13 includes the remote controller ID and the terminal ID of the terminal to be instructed to control, and these IDs are used to control the base station apparatus 11 and the terminal apparatus 12. Details of this control will be described later.

  Since the sub transmission / reception means 114 and 124 and the remote controller 13 have a bidirectional communication function, depending on the case, the sub transmission / reception means 114 or 124 can transmit a command or data, or the remote control 13 can receive the signal. is there.

  Several standards such as IEEE802.15.4 have been proposed as radio standards for RF remote control, but the remote control code transmission does not require so much transmission capacity, and the usable time on the remote control side may be lengthened. Because it is required, specifications with an emphasis on power saving have been adopted.

  On the other hand, the wireless standard adopted for the transmission / reception means 111 and 121 requires a large transmission capacity, and the power consumption is inevitably increased as compared with the sub transmission / reception means 114 and 124 in order to increase the transmission capacity. Therefore, in order to save power in the entire wireless system, it is very important to suppress the power consumption of the transmission / reception means 111 and 112.

  The operation of the first embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 2, 21 indicates a signal state output from the base station 11, and 211 to 217 indicate beacons. The beacon is periodically generated by the data processing unit 112 with a certain period indicated by 200 as a beacon period, modulated by the transmission / reception unit 111, and transmitted from the antenna 115. The beacon is transmitted to notify the terminal device 12 of various information necessary for communication. The terminal device 12 forms a network with the base station 11 and communicates by receiving the beacon. Can do. Note that the beacon period 200 can be changed by the base station apparatus 11, and usually a value of about 100 milliseconds is often set.

  2 of FIG. 2 shows the state of the terminal device 12 that the user wants to instruct. That is, the user instructs to switch the terminal device 12 to the standby state (power saving mode) at the timing 221, and instructs to return the terminal device 12 to the normal state (active mode) at the timing 223. In addition, since a user's instruction | indication is performed at arbitrary time, the timings 221 and 223 do not synchronize with the timing of the beacons 211-217.

  Here, an example of a conventional communication system is shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, the same reference numerals indicate means having the same function. It is assumed that the base station apparatus 11 and the terminal apparatus 12 shown in FIG. 3 do not have sub-transmission / reception means, and that when the user switches the operation state of the terminal apparatus 12, the base station apparatus 11 is instructed for the command. When the user instructs to switch the state of the terminal device 12, the terminal operation switching information is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 111 of the base station device 11 and received by the transmission / reception unit 121 of the terminal device 12. Can be switched.

  On the other hand, in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, switching between the normal state and the standby state of the terminal device 12 is directly instructed by a transmission command from the remote controller 13. When the user intends to switch the operation state of the terminal device 12 using the remote controller 13, a mode switching command is wirelessly transmitted from the remote controller 13, and the base station device 11 receives the sub transmission / reception means 114 via the antenna 116. Then, it is notified to the control means 113 as the state transition information of the terminal device 12.

  On the other hand, in the terminal device 12, the sub-transmission / reception unit 124 receives the radio signal transmitted from the remote controller 13 via the antenna 126, and notifies the control unit 123 of the received command. In the example of 22, the command for switching to the standby state is received at timing 221 and the command for switching to the normal state is received at timing 223. The embodiment of FIG. 1 differs from the conventional example shown in FIG. 3 in that the base station apparatus 11 and the terminal apparatus 12 simultaneously receive the switching command independently.

  Next, power control of the terminal device 12 in the conventional communication system shown in FIG. 3 will be described in detail.

  Reference numeral 23 denotes a power supply state of the transmission / reception means 121 of the terminal device 12. At timing 221, the user instructs the terminal device 12 to shift to the standby state, but this command is transmitted from the base station 11 by the beacon 213. Until the beacon 213 is received, the control unit 123 controls to supply power from the power source 127 to the transmission / reception unit 121. Since the normal state is maintained, the beacon and data can be transmitted / received. That is, in the period 230, the beacons 211, 212, and 213 can be received and data can be transmitted and received.

  The terminal device 12 that has received the beacon 213 shifts to the power saving mode in accordance with the switch command to the standby state. That is, before and after the timing at which the base station 11 transmits a beacon, power is supplied from the power source 127 to the transmission / reception means 121 in order to receive the beacon, but power is not supplied for power saving in other periods. Specifically, power is supplied from the power source 217 during the periods 232, 234, and 236, which are timings when the beacons 214, 215, and 216 are transmitted from the base station apparatus 11. On the other hand, power is not supplied during the periods 231, 233 and 235 to save power.

  When the user instructs to switch the terminal device 12 to the normal state at timing 223, this command is transmitted from the base station device 11 by the beacon 216. The terminal device 12 that has received the beacon 216 shifts to the active mode in accordance with the switch command to the normal state. Therefore, as in 236, power is always supplied from the power source 127 to the transmission / reception means 121. Reference numeral 24 denotes a reception state of the terminal in the above operation, and the terminal device 12 can receive all beacons.

  The power control in the conventional communication system has been described above, but in order to further save power in the power saving mode, the terminal device 12 skips beacon reception, that is, the power supply to the transmission / reception means 121 is stopped. It is also possible to perform control as described above, which is used as a general technique.

  An example in which the control unit 123 performs control so as to skip every other beacon in the power saving mode is shown in 25.

  In the control method shown in FIG. 25, after receiving the beacon 213 and shifting to the power saving mode, the reception of the beacon 214 is skipped and the next beacon 215 is received. A period 251 in which power is not supplied to the transmission / reception device 121 is longer than 231 and 233 indicated by 23, and power can be saved accordingly.

  Subsequently, at timing 223, the user instructs the terminal apparatus 12 to switch to the normal state. However, since the terminal apparatus 12 receives every other beacon during the period 252, the beacon 216 Is skipped. For this reason, the command for switching to the normal state is transmitted again by the beacon 217 from the base station apparatus 11. During the period 253, power is supplied from the power supply 127 to the transmission / reception means 121, so that the beacon 217 can be received, and the active mode is shifted to the received normal mode switching command. 26 shows the reception state of the terminal device 12 that has performed the above-described beacon skip control, and it can be seen that the beacons 214 and 216 are not received.

  As described above, in the conventional communication system, if the terminal device 12 is controlled to skip beacon reception, further power saving can be achieved. However, looking at the return time to the active mode, if there is no beacon skip shown in 23, the operation shifts to the active mode upon reception of the beacon 216, whereas the operation of skipping the beacon shown in 25 In, the active mode cannot be entered until the beacon 217 is received. Looking at the time difference from the timing 223 instructed by the user, in 23, the transition to the active mode is within the beacon period 200, whereas in 25, the transition time is longer than the beacon period 200. If the number of beacon skips is further increased, further power saving can be achieved, but the time until receiving a beacon including a switch command to the normal state becomes longer, and the user instructs The time difference from the timing will increase.

  As described above, in the conventional communication system shown in FIG. 3, if control is performed to skip beacon reception, the response of the terminal device 12 to the state switching command transmitted from the base station device 11 is delayed. Problem occurs.

  The operation of the conventional communication system has been described above. Now, the description returns to the operation of the embodiment of FIG. As described above, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the terminal device 12 is switched between the normal state and the standby state by the user transmitting a command using the remote controller 13.

  2 in FIG. 2 shows a power supply control state of the terminal device 12 in the embodiment of FIG.

  As indicated by 22 in FIG. 2, if the user instructs switching of the terminal device 12 to the standby state at timing 221, a command instructing switching to the standby state is transmitted from the remote controller 13. In the base station apparatus 11, the sub-transmission / reception means 114 receives via the antenna 116 and notifies the control means 113 as the state switching information of the terminal apparatus 12. On the other hand, in the terminal device 12, the sub-transmission / reception unit 124 receives the command transmitted from the remote controller 13 via the antenna 126 and notifies the control unit 123.

  Here, the control operation in the terminal device 12 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The terminal device 12 is normally in a command reception waiting state from the remote controller 13 shown in step 61. As described above, when the sub-transmission / reception unit 124 receives the command transmitted from the remote controller 13 and is notified to the control unit 123, the control unit 123 determines in step 62 that the remote control ID included in the received command is the remote control state. It is determined whether or not the remote control ID registered in the storage means 129 matches. If the received remote control ID is different from the remote control ID registered in the remote control state storage means 129, it is determined that it is not a control command for itself, and the process returns to the command reception waiting state in step 61. If the received remote controller ID matches the registered remote controller ID, the process proceeds to step 63.

  In step 63, it is determined whether or not the terminal ID included in the received command matches its own terminal ID. If the received terminal ID is different from its own terminal ID, it is determined that it is not a control command for itself, and the process returns to the command reception waiting state in step 61. If the received terminal ID matches the own terminal ID, the process proceeds to step 64.

  In step 64, the state of the power supply 127 is determined. If the terminal device 12 is in the normal state and the power supply 127 is supplying power to the transmission / reception means 121, the process proceeds to step 65. On the other hand, if the terminal device 12 is in the standby state and the power source 127 is not supplying power, the process proceeds to step 68.

  In step 65, it is determined whether the type of the received remote control command is “switch to normal state”, “switch to standby state” or “other commands”. If the command is “switch to normal state”, the power supply 127 is already supplying power in the normal state, so there is no need for control, and the process returns to the command reception waiting state in step 61. If the command is “switch to standby”, control is performed in step 67 so that the power supply 127 supplies power to the transmission / reception means 127 is stopped.

  After completion of the process of step 67, the process returns to the command reception waiting state of step 61. Several methods are conceivable for the power supply control in step 67, and details will be described later. If the command is another command, necessary processing is performed in accordance with the command type in step 66, and the process returns to the command reception waiting state in step 61. At timing 221 in FIG. 2, since the terminal device 12 receives the “switch to standby” command in the normal state, control through step 67 is performed, and the remote controller 13 sends the “standby state” to itself. When the “switch to” command is received, the power supply 127 is controlled so that the power supply to the transmission / reception means 121 is immediately stopped.

  Here, the power stop control in step 67 will be described. In the conventional example already described, as indicated by 23 in FIG. 2, even when the terminal device 12 is in a standby state, power is supplied to the transmission / reception means 121 for every beacon transmission cycle, and a beacon is received. Also in 25 of FIG. 2 in which beacon skip processing is performed, not all beacon reception is skipped, but beacon reception is always performed at a constant cycle.

  On the other hand, in the present invention, as shown in the period 261 of 27 in FIG. 2, even if the beacon transmission cycle comes, no process of supplying power to the transmission / reception means 121 is performed. This state is different from the conventional power saving mode and is a state to be called a complete beacon skip mode unique to the present invention, and further power saving can be achieved compared to the conventional power saving mode.

  Note that there may be a case where the complete beacon skip mode cannot be implemented depending on restrictions on device mounting forms of the transmission / reception unit 127 and the power supply 127. In other words, the transmission / reception means 127 and the power supply 127 are physically integrated, and the external power supply control method is limited to setting a limited number of beacon skips. In the case of such an implementation, in step 67, by setting the beacon skip count to the maximum configurable number, beacon reception during the standby state can be minimized within the controllable range. Since the number of beacon skips in the conventional power saving mode has a trade-off relationship with the reaction time, the maximum number of skips is generally not set. In the present invention, since there is no reaction time delay, there is no problem even if the number of skips is set to the maximum, and even when there are restrictions on the device mounting form, it is possible to achieve power saving compared to the conventional example. is there.

  Here, returning to 22 in FIG. 2, the control when the user instructs the switching of the terminal device 12 to the normal state at the timing 223 will be described.

  In the base station apparatus 11, the sub-transmission / reception means 114 receives via the antenna 116 and notifies the control means 113 as the state switching information of the terminal apparatus 12. On the other hand, in the terminal device 12, the sub-transmission / reception unit 124 receives the command transmitted from the remote controller 13 via the antenna 126 and notifies the control unit 123.

  Processing at this time will be described with reference to FIG.

  The operation when the command from the remote controller 13 is received when the terminal device 12 is already in the normal state has been described. Since the terminal device 12 is in the standby state at the timing 223 in FIG. 2, the process proceeds to step 68 after the determinations in steps 61, 62, 63 and 64 in FIG.

  In step 68, as in step 65, it is determined whether the type of the received remote control command is “switch to normal state”, “switch to standby state”, or “other commands”. If the command is “switch to standby state”, it is already in the standby state, so control is not necessary, and the process returns to the command reception waiting state in step 61. If the command is “switch to normal state”, control is performed so that the power supply 127 supplies power to the transmission / reception means 127 in step 69.

  After the process of step 69 is completed, the process returns to the command reception waiting state of step 61. Since the only command that can be processed in the standby state is the “switch to normal state” command, if it is any other command, the process returns to the command reception waiting state in step 61 without doing anything.

  When receiving the “switch to normal state” command, the control means 123 controls the power supply 127 so that the power supply to the transmission / reception means 121 is immediately resumed. Therefore, in FIG. 2, the state of the power supply 127 is as shown in 27. That is, power is supplied during the period 220 to the timing 221, and power supply is stopped during the period 261 from the timing 221 to 223. Power supply is resumed at timing 223, and power supply continues for the period 224.

  2 shows the beacon reception state of the terminal device 12 in the embodiment of FIG. 1, and shows that the beacons 211, 212, 216 and 217 of the period 220 and 224 to which power is supplied are received. ing. The beacons 213, 214, and 215 during the period 261 are not received by the terminal device 12, but during this period, the user intends to place the terminal device 12 in the standby state and cannot receive the beacons. There is no problem. Since no power is supplied to the transmission / reception means 121 during the period 261, the power can be saved most compared with the power supply state of the power supply 127 shown in 23 and 25.

  On the other hand, when the timing of the state switching of the terminal device 12 is seen, the supply of the power source 127 is controlled exactly in accordance with the user instruction state shown in FIG. Without being affected at all, it is possible to immediately switch the state as instructed by the user.

  The operation of the terminal apparatus 12 in the first embodiment has been described above. Next, the operation of the base station apparatus 11 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, the control when the user tries to switch the operation state of the terminal device 12 to the standby state using the remote controller 13 at the timing 221 shown in FIG. 2 will be described.

  The base station apparatus 11 is normally in a command reception waiting state from the remote controller 13 shown in step 71. As described above, when the sub-transmission / reception unit 114 receives the command transmitted from the remote controller 13 and is notified to the control unit 113, the control unit 113 determines in step 72 that the remote control ID included in the received command is the remote control state. It is determined whether or not the remote control ID registered in the storage means 119 matches. If the received remote controller ID is different from the remote controller ID registered in the remote controller state storage means 119, it is determined that the received remote controller ID is not a control command for the registered terminal device 12, and the process returns to the command reception waiting state in step 71. If the received remote controller ID matches the registered remote controller ID, the process proceeds to step 73.

  In step 73, it is determined whether or not the terminal ID included in the received command matches the terminal ID stored in the terminal state storage unit 118. If the received terminal ID is different from the stored terminal ID, it is determined that the received terminal ID is not a control command for the terminal device 12, and the process returns to the command reception waiting state in step 71. If the received terminal IDs match, the process proceeds to step 74.

In step 74, the power state of the terminal is determined. If the receiving terminal state stored in the terminal state storage unit 118 is the normal state, the process proceeds to step 75. on the other hand. If the receiving terminal state stored in the terminal state storage unit 118 is in the standby state, the process proceeds to step 78.
In step 75, it is determined whether the type of the received remote control command is “switch to normal state”, “switch to standby state”, or “other commands”. If the command is “switch to normal state”, no control is performed and the process returns to the command reception waiting state in step 71. If the command is “switch to standby state”, it is stored in step 77 that the terminal device 12 has shifted to the standby state.

  After the process of step 77 is completed, the process returns to the command reception waiting state of step 71. If the command is another command, necessary processing is performed according to the command type in step 76, and the process returns to the command reception waiting state in step 71.

  Here, returning to 22 in FIG. 2, the control when the user instructs the switching of the terminal device 12 to the normal state at the timing 223 will be described.

  Since the terminal device 12 is in the standby state at the timing 223 in FIG. 2, the process proceeds to step 78 after the determinations in steps 71, 72, 73 and 74 in FIG. 7.

  In step 78, the received remote control command is determined in the same manner as in step 75. If the command is “switch to standby state” or other commands, the base station apparatus 11 returns to the command reception waiting state in step 71 without performing any processing. If the command is “switch to normal state”, it is stored in step 79 that the terminal device 12 has shifted to the normal state. After completion of the process of step 79, the process returns to the command reception waiting state of step 71.

  Although the operation of the first embodiment has been described above, it is possible to save power without slowing down the reaction speed of the terminal device 12 by instructing the user to change the state of the terminal device 12 with the remote controller 13. It is.

  In addition, even when a plurality of terminal devices are connected to the communication system, it is possible to save power without slowing down the reaction speed of the terminal devices by performing the control shown in FIG. 6 on the terminal side. .

  In the above description of the first embodiment, it has been described that the “switch to standby state” and “switch to normal state” commands are transmitted from the remote controller 13 in accordance with user instructions. Several methods are conceivable for causing the base station apparatus 11 and the terminal apparatus 12 to correctly recognize the user's intention.

  The simplest method is to place buttons on the remote control 13 that mean “switch to standby state” and “switch to normal state”. In this case, the remote controller 13 may transmit the command according to the pressed button. A similar command can be transmitted even with a toggle switch that designates “switching to the standby state” and “switching to the normal state”.

  However, in a general remote control, “switching to standby state” and “switching to normal state” are often performed with a single “power” button, and the above method cannot be used with such a button configuration. In order for the base station apparatus 11 and the terminal apparatus 12 to recognize that the command is “switch to standby state” or “switch to normal state”, a method different from the above method is required.

  First, as a first method, when the “power” button is pressed on the remote controller 13, a simple “switch state” command may be transmitted. In this case, the terminal device 12 that has received the command causes the sub-transmission / reception means 124 to execute a “switch to standby state” command if the current state is the normal state, and to “enter the normal state” if the current state is the standby state. It may be recognized as a “switch” command. On the other hand, when the base station apparatus 11 receives a “state switching” command for a certain terminal apparatus, the state of the corresponding terminal apparatus stored in the terminal state storage unit 118 may be rewritten. That is, processing is performed to rewrite the standby state if the corresponding terminal device is in the normal state, and rewrite the normal state if the terminal device is in the standby state.

  Next, as a second method, a method in which the remote controller 13 grasps the state of the terminal and switches a command to be transmitted according to the state can be considered. Since the sub-transmission / reception means 124 can also transmit information, the state of the terminal device 12 is always notified to the remote controller 13 and this information is held inside the remote controller 13. When the user presses the “power” button, a “switch to standby state” command is issued if the terminal device 12 is in a normal state, and a “switch to normal state” if the current state is the standby state. Send a command.

  If the first and second methods are used, the base station apparatus 11 and the terminal apparatus 12 can correctly recognize the user's intention even if the remote control 13 has only a single “power” button. It is.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 4 and will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In FIG. 4, the same reference numerals indicate means having the same function. A power source 417 supplies power to the transmission / reception unit 111 and is controlled by the control unit 113. The terminal device 12 is controlled in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and power is not supplied from the power source 127 to the transmission / reception means 121 during the period 261 in FIG.

  Next, the operation of the base station apparatus 11 will be described. In the embodiment according to the present invention, since the state switching of the terminal device is instructed by the remote controller 13, the base station device 11 transmits a beacon during a period in which all the terminal devices registered in the communication network are in the standby state. There is no need.

  First, the control when the user tries to switch the operation state of the terminal device 12 to the standby state using the remote controller 13 at the timing 221 shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The operations from step 71 to step 74 are the same as described in the first embodiment.

  In step 75, the received remote control command type is determined. If the command is "switch to normal state", no control is performed and the process returns to the command reception waiting state in step 71. If the command is “switch to standby”, the process proceeds to step 81. If the command is another command, necessary processing is performed in accordance with the command type in step 76, and the process returns to the command reception waiting state in step 71.

  In step 81, the power status of other terminal devices registered in the communication network is determined. That is, the power state information of other terminal devices registered in the terminal state storage unit 118 is checked, and if all other terminal devices are in the standby state, the process proceeds to step 82. If there is at least one terminal device in the normal state, the process proceeds to step 77 to store that the receiving terminal that has received the “switch to standby state” command has shifted to the standby state.

  In step 82, control is performed so that the power supply 417 stops the power supply supplied to the transmission / reception means 117. In the conventional example and Example 1 already described, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the base station apparatus 11 transmits a beacon at every beacon transmission period regardless of the state of the terminal apparatus 12. On the other hand, in the present invention, similarly to the terminal apparatus 12, the base station apparatus controls the power supply 417 so as to stop the power supply to the transmission / reception means 111. Similar to the period 261 in FIG. 2, even when the beacon transmission cycle comes, no process of supplying power to the transmission / reception means 111 is performed. For this reason, beacons 213, 214, 215, and 216 that should originally be transmitted are not transmitted from the base station apparatus 11. However, in the state in which step 82 is executed, all terminal apparatuses are controlled not to receive beacons during the period 261, and no problem occurs even if no beacon is transmitted from the base station 11. Therefore, unlike the conventional example, the base station apparatus 11 can also stop power supply to the transmission / reception means 111 to save power.

  After the process of step 82 is completed, the process returns to the command reception waiting state of step 71 via step 77.

  Here, returning to 22 in FIG. 2, the control when the user instructs the switching of the terminal device 12 to the normal state at the timing 223 will be described.

  In the base station apparatus 11, the sub-transmission / reception means 114 receives via the antenna 116 and notifies the control means 113 as the state switching information of the terminal apparatus 12. The processing at this time will be described with reference to FIG. Since the terminal device 12 is in the standby state at the timing 223 in FIG. 2, the process proceeds to step 78 after the determinations in steps 71, 72, 73 and step 74 in FIG.

  In step 78, the received remote control command is determined in the same manner as in step 75. If the command is “switch to standby state” or other commands, the base station apparatus 11 returns to the command reception waiting state in step 71 without performing any processing. If the command is “switch to normal state”, the process proceeds to step 83.

  In step 83, the power state of another terminal device registered in the communication network is determined. That is, the power state information of other terminal devices registered in the terminal state storage unit 118 is checked, and if all other terminal devices are in the standby state, the process proceeds to step 84. If there is at least one terminal device in the normal state, this means that the power is already supplied to the transmission / reception means 111, and it is not necessary to perform power control, and the process proceeds to step 79.

  In step 79, it is stored that the receiving terminal that has received the “switch to normal state” command has shifted to the normal state. Step 84 means that the terminal device that has received the command is in a state of shifting to the normal state, and the power source 417 is controlled to supply power to the transmission / reception means 117 so that the terminal device can receive a beacon. I do. After completion of the process of step 79, the process returns to the command reception waiting state of step 71.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, further power saving of the entire communication system is achieved by controlling the power supply to the transmission / reception means 111 of the base station apparatus 11 in accordance with the state of the terminal apparatus 12. Can do. Further, even when a plurality of terminal devices are connected to the communication system, the terminal device performs the control shown in FIG. 6 and the base station side performs the control shown in FIG. It is possible to save power without slowing down.

  Subsequently, a third embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 5 and will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In FIG. 5, the same reference numerals indicate means having the same function, 501 is the main radio unit of the base station that combines the transmission / reception means 111, the data processing means 112 and the control means 113, 502 is the transmission / reception means 121, the data processing means 122 and The main radio unit of the terminal in which the control unit 123 is integrated, 512 is the main radio unit power of the base station that supplies power to the main radio unit 501, and 511 is the main radio unit power control unit of the base station that controls the main radio unit power 512. Reference numeral 522 denotes a main radio unit power source of a terminal that supplies power to the main radio unit 502, and 521 denotes a main radio unit power control unit of the terminal that controls the main radio unit power source 522.

  First, a case where a state switching command is wirelessly transmitted from the remote controller 13 to switch the terminal device 12 to the standby state at the timing 221 shown in FIG. 2 will be described.

  In the terminal device 12, the sub-transmission / reception unit 124 receives the transmitted command via the antenna 126, notifies the main radio unit power control unit 521, and does not supply power to the main radio unit 502 from the power source 522. The wireless unit power supply control means 521 performs control. Accordingly, power is not supplied to the main radio unit 502 during the period 261 in FIG.

  In the base station apparatus 11, the sub-transmission / reception means 114 receives the command transmitted from the remote controller 13 via the antenna 116, notifies the main radio unit power supply control means 511 as the state switching information of the terminal apparatus 12, and the main radio apparatus The main radio unit power control unit 511 performs control so that power is not supplied to the unit 501 from the power source 512. Accordingly, power is not supplied to the main radio unit 501 during the period 261 in FIG. For this reason, beacons 213, 214, 215, and 216 that should originally be transmitted are not transmitted from the base station apparatus 11. However, since the terminal device 12 also does not receive the beacons 213, 214, 215, and 216, no problem occurs even if the base station device 11 does not perform transmission.

  As described above, in the third embodiment, power is supplied not only to the transmission / reception means 111 and 121 but also to the main radio units 501 and 502 including the control means 113 and 123 and the data processing means 112 and 122. By controlling, further power saving of the entire communication system can be achieved.

  Further, in the description of the embodiments so far, the main antenna 115 and the sub antenna 116 have been described as different ones. However, the main antenna 115 and the sub antenna 116 are physically the same if performance characteristics can be secured. There is no problem even if it is used.

  Similarly, there is no problem even if the main antenna 125 and the sub antenna 126 of the terminal device 12 are physically the same.

  By adopting a wireless standard in which the data transmission capacity from the base station to the terminal device and the data transmission capacity from the terminal device to the base station are significantly different, a video display device in which the amount of data received is much larger than the transmission data It can be applied to other uses.

It is explanatory drawing which showed the implementation method of the communication system in Example 1. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which showed the operation state of the communication system. It is explanatory drawing which showed the conventional communication system. It is explanatory drawing which showed the implementation method of the communication system in Example 2. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which showed the implementation method of the communication system in Example 3. FIG. It is the flowchart explaining control of the terminal device. It is the flowchart explaining control of the base station apparatus. It is the flowchart explaining control of the base station apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

11 Base station apparatus 111 Transmission / reception means 112 Data processing means 113 Control means 114 Sub transmission / reception means 115 Main antenna 116 Sub antenna 118 Terminal state storage means 119 Remote control state storage means 12 Terminal device 121 Transmission / reception means 122 Data processing means 123 Control means 124 Sub transmission / reception Means 127 Power supply 129 for transmission / reception means Remote control state storage means 13 Remote control

Claims (13)

A wireless communication system comprising a base station and a terminal that wirelessly communicate data including a beacon, and a remote control that transmits a control command to the terminal,
The base station includes a transmission / reception unit that wirelessly communicates data with the terminal,
The terminal includes a transmission / reception unit that wirelessly communicates data with the base station, a power supply unit that supplies power to the transmission / reception unit, a sub-reception unit that receives a control command transmitted from the remote controller, A wireless communication system comprising: a control unit that controls the transmission / reception unit and the power supply unit based on a control command received by a reception unit. The control command transmitted from the remote control is a power saving mode command considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal and an active mode command not considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal,
When the control command is a power saving mode command, the control unit of the terminal performs control so that power is not supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the terminal, and the control command is an active mode command. 2. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein control is performed so that power is supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the terminal. The control command transmitted from the remote control is a power saving mode command considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal and an active mode command not considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal,
When the control command is a power saving mode command, the control unit of the terminal controls to increase the number of beacon skips to reduce power supply from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the terminal, 2. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein when the control command is an active mode command, control is performed such that power is supplied from a power supply unit to a transmission / reception unit in the terminal.   The base station includes a power supply unit that supplies power to the transmission / reception unit, a sub-reception unit that receives a control command transmitted from the remote control, and the transmission / reception unit and the transmission unit based on the control command received by the sub-reception unit. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit that controls the power supply unit. The control command transmitted from the remote control is a power saving mode command considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal and an active mode command not considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal,
When the control command is a power saving mode command, the control unit of the terminal performs control so that power is not supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the terminal, and the control command is an active mode command. In this case, control is performed so as to supply power from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the terminal,
When the control command is a power saving mode command, the control unit of the base station performs control so that power is not supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the base station, and the control command is an active mode command. 5. The radio communication system according to claim 4, wherein control is performed so that power is supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the base station.   The wireless communication system according to claim 4, wherein there are a plurality of terminals that wirelessly communicate data with the base station. The control command transmitted from the remote control is a power saving mode command considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal and an active mode command not considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal,
When the control command is a power saving mode command, the control unit of the terminal performs control so that power is not supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the terminal, and the control command is an active mode command. In this case, control is performed so as to supply power from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the terminal,
The control unit of the base station performs control so as not to perform power supply from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the base station when the control command related to all terminals is a power saving mode command. 7. The control according to claim 6, wherein when the control command related to the one terminal is an active mode command, control is performed so that power is supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit in the base station. Wireless communication system. A base station and a terminal that wirelessly communicate data including a beacon, and a terminal in a wireless communication system including a remote control that transmits a control command to the terminal,
A transceiver for wirelessly communicating data with the base station;
A power supply for supplying power to the transceiver;
A sub-receiving unit that receives a control command transmitted from the remote control;
A terminal comprising: a control unit that controls the transmission / reception unit and the power supply unit based on a control command received by the sub-reception unit. The control command transmitted from the remote control is a power saving mode command considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal and an active mode command not considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal,
When the control command is a power saving mode command, the control unit controls the power supply unit not to supply power to the transmission / reception unit, and when the control command is an active mode command. The terminal according to claim 8, wherein control is performed so that power is supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit. The control command transmitted from the remote control is a power saving mode command considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal and an active mode command not considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal,
When the control command is a power saving mode command, the control unit controls to increase the number of skips of the beacon for reducing power supply from the power source unit to the transmission / reception unit, and the control command 9. The terminal according to claim 8, wherein when the command is an active mode command, control is performed so that power is supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit. A base station and a terminal for wirelessly communicating data, and a base station in a wireless communication system including a remote control that transmits a control command to the terminal,
A transceiver for wirelessly communicating data with the terminal;
A power supply for supplying power to the transceiver;
A sub-receiving unit that receives a control command transmitted from the remote control;
A base station comprising: a control unit that controls the transmitting / receiving unit and the power supply unit based on a control command received by the sub-receiving unit. The control command transmitted from the remote control is a power saving mode command considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal and an active mode command not considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal,
When the control command is a power saving mode command, the control unit controls the power supply unit not to supply power to the transmission / reception unit, and when the control command is an active mode command. The base station according to claim 11, wherein control is performed so that power is supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit. There are multiple terminals that wirelessly communicate data,
The control command transmitted from the remote control is a power saving mode command considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal and an active mode command not considering the power consumption suppression of the terminal,
The control unit performs control so that power supply from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit is not performed when a control command related to all terminals is a power saving mode command, and The base station according to claim 11, wherein when the control command is an active mode command, control is performed so that power is supplied from the power supply unit to the transmission / reception unit.

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