JP2016054373A - Short range radio device and audio apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a short range radio device and an audio apparatus, capable of simplifying a processing procedure of displaying identifiably a device name existed in a communication range of short-range radio communication.SOLUTION: An audio apparatus performs radio communication compliant with a smartphone and Bluetooth. On the other hand, when the audio apparatus is switched into a rename mode by an administrator, a friendly name obtained by adding the last 3 digits of Bluetooth address to a head of a device name is set. The audio apparatus sends the renamed friendly name in response to a remote name request (RNR) command from the smartphone.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The technology disclosed in the present application relates to a technology for identifying each device in short-range wireless communication.

  Some personal computers are connected to an input device such as a mouse or a keyboard using short-distance wireless communication, for example, wireless communication using Bluetooth (registered trademark) (for example, Patent Document 1). In the information processing system disclosed in Patent Document 1, a personal computer serves as a master, and any one of a plurality of input devices (such as a mouse) serves as a slave to perform wireless communication and transmit input data such as key inputs to the personal computer. To do. Further, when switching an input device that transmits input data to the personal computer, the personal computer displays a list of input devices that exist within a range in which wireless communication is possible on the display screen. The user or the like selects a desired input device from the display screen.

  More specifically, for example, when switching the keyboard to be input, the keyboard currently used is operated to transmit the input device change command to the personal computer. When the personal computer receives the input device change command, the personal computer generates an access code based on a predetermined GIAC (General Inquiry Access Code). The personal computer generates a terminal search signal (INQUIRY) in which the access code is mapped to the access code area of the packet format. The personal computer also detects the input device by broadcasting a terminal search signal to the input device existing within the communication range.

  Upon receiving the terminal search signal, the input device within the communication range maps the access code generated based on the ID stored in the ID storage unit to the access code area of the packet format, and the terminal search response signal (INQUIRY RESPONSE) To the personal computer. When receiving the terminal search response signal, the personal computer extracts the ID of the input device from the access code and displays it on the display screen.

JP 2002-73525 A

  By the way, the above-described ID is data represented by numbers or the like for the personal computer to identify the input device, and it cannot be determined which input device the user sees. For this reason, in the information processing system described above, in order to display the input device within the communication range in an identifiable manner for the user or the like, the device name of each input device is used instead of the ID extracted by the master personal computer. indicate. Alternatively, it is necessary to perform processing for associating the ID extracted from the access code of the received terminal search response signal with the device name of each input device. Further, since the personal computer displays the ID and device name in the display area of the display unit, it is necessary to set an area for displaying individual data. As a result, in the information processing system described above, the processing procedure for displaying the device names existing within the communication range so as to be identifiable to the user or the like becomes complicated. Further, when only the device name is displayed, there is a problem that if there are a plurality of the same devices within the same communication range, the device names cannot be distinguished only by looking at the device names.

  The technology disclosed in the present application has been proposed in view of the above problems. It is an object of the present invention to provide a short-range wireless device and an audio device capable of simplifying a processing procedure for displaying a device name existing within a communication range of short-range wireless communication in an identifiable manner.

  A short-range wireless device according to the technology disclosed in the present application receives a wireless communication unit that transmits and receives data to and from a transmission source device via short-range wireless communication and a wireless communication unit that receives the data from the transmission source device. A processing unit that responds to the request signal with a friendly name, and the processing unit sets an identification name based on a unique address as a friendly name in addition to the head of the device name.

  In the short-range wireless device, the processing unit responds to the request signal received via the wireless communication unit that performs short-range wireless communication with the transmission source device. The processing unit sets a friendly name that responds by adding an identification name based on a unique address to the head of the device name. The unique address here is, for example, an address used for data transmission / reception in short-range wireless communication. The device name is, for example, a product name set by a manufacturer of a device (such as an audio device) provided with a short-range wireless device.

  Here, in the conventional information processing system, it is necessary to set the ID in advance in the ID storage unit of the input device separately from the unique address in the present application. On the other hand, in the short-range wireless device, such an operation of creating an ID and setting an ID becomes unnecessary.

  Further, in the information processing system of the prior art, it is necessary to transmit two data, that is, an access code generated based on the ID and a device name, from the slave-side input device to the master-side personal computer. Further, the personal computer needs to perform an ID extraction process and a process of associating the extracted ID with the device name. On the other hand, in the short-range wireless device, a friendly name to which an identification name based on a unique address is added is returned to the device that requested the friendly name. For this reason, the device that has requested the friendly name only needs to receive the friendly name to which the identification name is added, and it is not necessary to separately receive an ID or extract an ID from the received access code.

  Further, in the conventional information processing system, it is necessary for the personal computer to display the ID and the device name on the display unit in order to display the device name to the user or the like in an identifiable manner. On the other hand, a device that has requested a friendly name for the short-range wireless device simply displays the friendly name with the identification name added to the device name, and the device name existing within the communication range of the short-range wireless communication, It becomes possible to display in an identifiable manner.

  Further, the processing unit sets an identification name based on the unique address as a friendly name in addition to the head of the device name. Here, for example, when the device name is long, even if a friendly name with an identification name added after the device name is displayed, the identification name may not be displayed at all depending on the size of the display area of the display unit. . On the other hand, in the short-range wireless device, for example, by setting a part of a unique address as the identification name and setting the head of the device name, even if the device name is long, a plurality of friendly names can be identified. It is possible to display as possible.

  Further, in the short-range wireless device according to the technique disclosed in the present application, the short-range wireless communication is wireless communication based on the Bluetooth standard, and the processing unit is identified based on the Bluetooth address set in the wireless communication unit. It is good also as a structure which sets.

  In the short-range wireless device, the identification name can be appropriately set using a unique Bluetooth address assigned to each of the Bluetooth-compatible devices.

  The short-range wireless device according to the technology disclosed in the present application further includes an operation unit that receives an operation instruction from the outside, and the processing unit uses a device name as a friendly name according to the content of the operation instruction received by the operation unit. The first mode to be set may be switched to the second mode to be set by adding an identification name to the head of the device name as a friendly name.

  In the short-range wireless device, a user or the like can operate the operation unit as necessary to switch modes, and can select data to be used as a friendly name.

  An audio device according to a technique disclosed in the present application includes the short-range wireless device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, and reproduces acoustic data received via a wireless communication unit. .

  In the audio device, it is possible to identify a friendly name using a unique address.

  According to the technique disclosed in the present application, it is possible to provide a short-range wireless device and an audio device capable of simplifying a processing procedure for displaying a device name existing in a communication range of short-range wireless communication in an identifiable manner. Can do.

It is a figure which shows the audio equipment which exists in the range of the wireless communication of a smart phone. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of an audio equipment and a smart phone. It is a state transition diagram which shows the communication content between an audio equipment and a smart phone. It is a figure for demonstrating the packet format of Bluetooth. It is a figure which shows an example of the display state of the touch panel in each mode of normal mode and rename mode.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 illustrates an audio device 11 as an example of a device including the short-range wireless device of the present embodiment. The plurality of audio devices 11 reproduce music data transferred by wireless communication from the smartphone 21 carried by the user U. Each of the plurality of audio devices 11 and the smartphone 21 can construct a short-distance network called a piconet and transfer music data or the like by short-range wireless communication, for example, wireless communication based on Bluetooth (registered trademark). It is possible.

  The smartphone 21 stores a plurality of music data in a built-in memory 29 (see FIG. 2), and when the user U selects (touches) music data to be listened to from a playlist displayed on the touch panel 23, The selected music data is transferred to the audio device 11. The audio device 11 performs a process of outputting the music data transferred from the smartphone 21 from the speaker 13. In addition, the broken line shown in FIG. 1 has shown an example of the communication range 31 in which the smart phone 21 can communicate by Bluetooth. The communication range 31 of Bluetooth can be extended from 10 m to 100 m by increasing the transmission output, for example.

  FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the audio device 11 and the smartphone 21. The audio device 11 includes a speaker 13, a wireless communication unit 15, a processing unit 17, and an operation unit 19. The wireless communication unit 15 realizes wireless communication by spectrum spreading of a frequency hopping method (FHSS: Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum). For example, the wireless communication unit 15 performs an encoding process and a modulation process on transmission data input from the processing unit 17 to generate a baseband signal. Further, the wireless communication unit 15 up-converts the generated baseband signal into a signal in the 2.4 GHz frequency band by A / D conversion or the like. In addition, the wireless communication unit 15 performs processing of outputting received data extracted by performing demodulation processing of a signal down-converted from a signal in the frequency band of 2.4 GHz to the processing unit 17. Further, the Bluetooth address is stored in advance in the storage unit 15A of the wireless communication unit 15. The Bluetooth address is an address assigned as a unique value for identifying a Bluetooth-compatible device, and is a 48-bit unique address. The storage unit 15A is, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory).

  The processing unit 17 performs communication protocol processing of each layer in the Bluetooth protocol stack. Further, the processing unit 17 performs a process of outputting music data received from the smartphone 21 via the wireless communication unit 15 to the speaker 13. The operation unit 19 is for receiving an operation instruction from a user or the like, and includes a power switch, a volume switch, and the like.

  The smartphone 21 includes a touch panel 23, a wireless communication unit 25, a control unit 27, and a memory 29. The wireless communication unit 25 realizes wireless communication by frequency hopping spread spectrum with the wireless communication unit 15 included in the audio device 11. The wireless communication unit 25 performs a process of up-converting transmission data input from the control unit 27 and a process of outputting the down-converted reception data to the control unit 27. The control unit 27 performs communication protocol processing for each layer in the Bluetooth protocol stack. Further, the control unit 27 transfers the music data stored in the memory 29 to the audio device 11 via the wireless communication unit 25 in response to an operation instruction made by the user U on the touch panel 23.

  Next, prior to Bluetooth pairing (authentication), a process for searching for a Bluetooth-compatible device (in the present embodiment, the audio device 11) existing in the communication range 31 will be described. In the following description, as an example, a case will be described in which the user U's smartphone 21 serves as a piconet master and any one of the plurality of audio devices 11 serves as a slave to perform wireless communication.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a case is assumed in which a user U visits a venue where audio devices 11 are arranged on a plurality of tables T. FIG. 3 is a state transition diagram illustrating communication contents between the audio device 11 and the smartphone 21. First, in the step (hereinafter referred to as a unit “S”) 11 shown in FIG. 3, the venue manager or the like switches modes by operating the operation units 19 of all the audio devices 11 in advance. This mode is a normal mode in which a device name is set as a friendly name (an example of the first mode), and a rename mode (second mode) in which the last three digits of the Bluetooth address are added to the head of the device name as a friendly name. . The processing unit 17 changes the friendly name as necessary by switching between the two modes in accordance with the operation content of the administrator with respect to the operation unit 19. The operation procedure for switching the mode is preferably an operation procedure that a general user U does not perform in a normal operation, and may be, for example, an operation procedure in which the power switch is continuously pressed for several seconds. Further, the audio device 11 is not limited to a direct operation on the operation unit 19, and may be configured such that the mode can be switched remotely from a remote controller. In this case, the administrator or the like can collectively change the modes of the plurality of audio devices 11 using the remote controller.

  In addition, in the specification of Bluetooth, a friendly name (for example, a manufacturer's device name (product name) “LSX-70 Yamaha”, etc.) can be set in order to distinguish Bluetooth-compatible devices. The friendly name is, for example, 248-byte data encoded in UTF-8. When the set friendly name is shorter than 248 bytes, the friendly name is represented by a null character at the end. The friendly name is determined, for example, by the manufacturer of the audio device 11 and set in advance in a ROM (not shown) provided in the processing unit 17. When the mode is changed to the rename mode in S11, the processing unit 17 of the audio device 11 renames the friendly name by inserting the last three digits of the Bluetooth address at the head of a preset device name (such as LSX-70 Yamaha). To do.

  A manager or the like of a venue where a plurality of audio devices 11 are installed checks the last three digits of the Bluetooth address of the audio device 11 in advance by individually operating the power of the audio device 11 or using the mode setting. Before the user U uses, the three-digit number memo or the like is displayed corresponding to each audio device 11.

  Next, the user U activates the Bluetooth function by operating the touch panel 23 of the smartphone 21 in order to listen to favorite music using the audio device 11 placed on the table T on which the user U is seated (S13). . When the Bluetooth function is enabled, the control unit 27 of the smartphone 21 broadcasts a terminal search signal (INQUIRY) to the audio device 11 within the communication range 31 via the wireless communication unit 25 (S15). When receiving the terminal search signal via the wireless communication unit 15, the processing units 17 of the plurality of audio devices 11 existing within the communication range 31 transmit a terminal search response signal (INQUIRY RESPONSE) to the smartphone 21 (S17).

  Here, in the Bluetooth standard, a command is provided by the host controller interface (HCI) of the protocol stack in order to realize the terminal search signal and the terminal search response signal. The terminal search response signal includes the Bluetooth address class and other information (device type (eg, audio device)) regarding the responding Bluetooth compatible device (audio device 11).

  As described above, since the friendly name is not included in the terminal search response signal, the control unit 27 of the smartphone 21 uses the remote name request (RNR) command to detect the audio device 11 detected by the terminal search signal. Process to request friendly names. This remote name request command can be realized by using a link management protocol (LMP) of the link manager layer (LM layer) of the Bluetooth protocol stack.

  FIG. 4 shows a format of a packet transmitted by wireless communication compliant with Bluetooth. In the information processing system of the prior art, the unique ID set in the input device on the slave side is mapped to the access code area shown in FIG. 4 and transmitted to the master (personal computer) as a terminal search response signal. On the other hand, the friendly name acquired using the remote name request command described above is acquired using, for example, an ACL packet (such as an HV2 packet) mapped in the payload area shown in FIG. For this reason, in the information processing system of the prior art, it is necessary for the personal computer on the master side to separately receive the packet in which the data (ID and friendly name) is mapped in each of the access code area and the payload area, or the received packet It is necessary to extract each data from. In addition, the personal computer needs to associate the extracted data (ID and friendly name). These extraction and association processes are repeated for all input devices detected by the terminal search signal.

  On the other hand, in the audio device 11 of this embodiment, the operation unit 19 is operated to switch from the normal mode to the rename mode, so that the friendly name is renamed using the lower three digits of the Bluetooth address stored in the storage unit 15A. To do. Note that the processing unit 17 may perform the renaming process when the remote name request command is received for the first time after changing to the renaming mode without performing the renaming process in advance in step S11.

  As illustrated in FIG. 3, when the control unit 27 of the smartphone 21 detects any one of the audio devices 11 existing in the communication range 31 in S <b> 17, it transmits a remote name request command to the detected audio device 11. (S19). Since the audio device 11 that has received the remote name request command has been switched to the rename mode by the administrator in S11, the audio device 11 responds with a friendly name with the last three digits of the Bluetooth address added to the head of the device name (S21).

  Similarly, the control unit 27 performs a process of acquiring friendly names for the other audio devices 11 in the communication range 31 detected by the processes of S15 and S17. The control unit 27 temporarily stores the received friendly name in the memory 29. The control unit 27 displays the received friendly names as a list on the touch panel 23 (S23). FIG. 5 shows the display state of the touch panel 23 in each of the normal mode and the rename mode. As shown in FIG. 5, on the touch panel 23 in the normal mode, only the device name is displayed as the friendly name. In this state, the user U cannot determine which of the audio devices 11 of his / her table T is. On the other hand, on the touch panel 23 in the rename mode, a friendly name in which the last three digits of the Bluetooth address are inserted at the head of the device name is displayed.

  For this reason, for example, by placing a friendly name to which the last three digits of the Bluetooth address are added in the table T on which the corresponding audio device 11 is placed in advance, the user U can see it from the list display on the touch panel 23. The audio device 11 in the table T can be determined. When one of the audio devices 11 displayed on the touch panel 23 is selected (touched or the like) by the user U, the smartphone 21 transmits a connection request signal to the selected audio device 11 to perform pairing or the like. Implement (S25). As described above, in the smartphone 21 of the present embodiment, it is not necessary to determine which audio device 11 is which Bluetooth address, and the like, and only the display process of the touch panel 23 may be performed. In other words, in the present embodiment, the master device does not require processing different from normal processing as processing for identifying the slave device.

As mentioned above, according to above-mentioned embodiment, there exist the following effects.
(1) The processing unit 17 of the audio device 11 according to the present embodiment responds with a friendly name to a remote name request (RNR) command received via the wireless communication unit 15 that performs wireless communication complying with Bluetooth (S21). ). Since the administrator has switched to the rename mode in S11, the processing unit 17 responds with a friendly name in which the last three digits of the Bluetooth address are added to the head of the device name. In the audio device 11, the friendly name is changed using a unique Bluetooth address set in the Bluetooth-compatible device, so that an operation for setting an ID or the like separately from the Bluetooth address becomes unnecessary. Further, the control unit 27 of the master-side smartphone 21 displays the received friendly names as a list on the touch panel 23 (S23). Since the user U has a unique identification name added to the head of the friendly name, the user U can determine the audio device 11 in his / her table T from the list display on the touch panel 23. Therefore, the smartphone 21 does not need to determine which audio device 11 has which Bluetooth address and the like, and only needs to perform display processing of the touch panel 23. That is, the smartphone 21 does not need a process different from a normal process as a process for identifying the audio device 11, and does not need to install an application separately. In addition, it is not necessary to associate data for identification (such as a Bluetooth address) with a friendly name or manage the data separately from the friendly name.

  Further, the processing unit 17 sets the last three digits of the Bluetooth address as the friendly name at the head of the device name. In such a configuration, both a device name and a Bluetooth address can be displayed even if the display device has a limited display area, such as the touch panel 23 of the smartphone 21, and a plurality of friendly names can be displayed in an identifiable manner. Become.

(2) The processing unit 17 sets an identification name based on the Bluetooth address set in the storage unit 15A of the wireless communication unit 15. Therefore, in the audio device 11 of the present embodiment, it is possible to appropriately set the identification name using a unique Bluetooth address assigned to each Bluetooth compatible device.

(3) The audio device 11 includes a normal mode in which a device name is set as a friendly name by the user U performing a predetermined operation on the operation unit 19, and a Bluetooth name at the top of the device name as a friendly name. A rename mode for adding a digit can be selected (S11).

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that various improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, Bluetooth has been described as an example of short-range wireless communication. However, the present invention is applied to other short-range wireless communication, for example, wireless communication based on IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) 802.11b. Even in this case, the same effect as in the above embodiment can be obtained. In this case, for example, a MAC address can be used as the unique address instead of the Bluetooth address.

In the above embodiment, the lower 3 digits of the Bluetooth address are used as a part of the unique address. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the lower 4 digits or the lower 6 digits may be any number of digits. The configuration may be such that how the friendly name is changed using the Bluetooth address may be set.
Further, the audio device 11 may be configured such that mode switching cannot be performed. That is, the audio device 11 may be always in the rename mode.
In the above embodiment, the audio device 11 is described as an example of a device including the short-range wireless device of the present application, but may be applied to other devices that require short-range wireless communication.
In the above embodiment, music data (an example of acoustic data) has been described as an example of data to be transmitted and received in short-range wireless communication. However, the data to be transmitted and received may be data in other formats such as image data and text data.

Also, the Bluetooth version is not particularly limited.
Further, although not particularly mentioned in the above embodiment, the audio device 11 may include a lighting device whose brightness and color change according to other functions, for example, the state of wireless communication, the musical pitch, and the like. For example, a configuration may be provided that includes a lighting device that turns on the lighting or changes the color of the lighting when the pairing is successful.

11 audio equipment, 15 wireless communication unit, 17 processing unit, 19 operation unit, 21 smartphone.

Claims (4)

A wireless communication unit that transmits and receives data to and from a transmission source device by short-range wireless communication; and
A processing unit that responds a friendly name to a request signal received from the transmission source device via the wireless communication unit;
With
The short-range wireless device, wherein the processing unit sets an identification name based on a unique address as the friendly name in addition to the head of the device name. The short-range wireless communication is wireless communication compliant with the Bluetooth standard,
The short-range wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit sets the identification name based on a Bluetooth address set in the wireless communication unit. It has an operation unit that accepts operation instructions from outside,
The processing unit adds a first mode for setting the device name as the friendly name according to the content of the operation instruction received by the operation unit, and adds the identification name to the head of the device name as the friendly name. The short-range wireless device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second mode to be set is switched.   An audio device comprising the short-range wireless device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and reproducing acoustic data received via the wireless communication unit.

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