JP2018094765A - Device arrangement presentation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device arrangement presentation system which can present the arrangement position of an image formation device in a living room to a user in consideration of the electric field intensity distribution of an electric wave from the image formation device.SOLUTION: A living room layout identification unit 22a identifies a living room region and an obstacle in the living room region. An arrangement position presentation unit 22b selects one of a plurality of sub regions obtained by dividing the living room region in the order, estimates the electric field intensity of the electric wave from an image formation device 2 in the other sub region when the image formation device 2 is arranged in the selected sub region, and presents the arrangement position of the image formation device 2 on the basis of the distribution of the electric field intensity in the other sub region. An arrangement position evaluation unit 22c evaluates the arrangement position on the basis of the measurement result of the electric field intensity at the time when executing peer-to-peer wireless communication between the image formation device 2 arranged at the arrangement position and a mobile terminal device 1 moving in the living room region.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a device arrangement presentation system.

  In one system, an electric field strength detection unit and a position detection unit that detect electric field strength of radio waves from a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) relay device are arranged on a carriage, and the carriage moves to move the wireless LAN in the measurement area. The electric field intensity distribution of the radio wave from the relay device is measured (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-125951 A

  A wireless LAN relay device such as an access point can be installed at a position where there are no obstructions or interference objects around the office, such as an office ceiling, and is fixedly arranged at such a position. Then, as described above, the electric field strength distribution of the radio wave from the wireless LAN relay device already arranged as such can be measured.

  On the other hand, in recent years, for example, an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral is capable of peer-to-peer communication with a mobile terminal device. In general, such an image forming apparatus can be arbitrarily arranged in a room by a user. Therefore, even if the above-described system is used, the user does not know where in the room the image forming apparatus should be placed in consideration of the electric field strength distribution of the radio waves from the image forming apparatus.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and considers the electric field strength distribution of radio waves from the image forming apparatus and presents the arrangement position of the image forming apparatus in the room to the user. The purpose is to obtain.

  The apparatus arrangement presentation system according to the present invention specifies (a) a room area where an image forming apparatus capable of performing peer-to-peer wireless communication with a mobile terminal apparatus is to be arranged, and (b) based on a user operation. A room layout specifying unit for specifying obstacles in the room area; (a) dividing the room area into a plurality of sub-areas; and (b) selecting one of the plurality of sub-areas in order and selecting the selected sub-area. When the image forming apparatus is arranged in the area, the electric field intensity of the radio wave from the image forming apparatus in the other sub area, the radio wave output characteristic of the image forming apparatus, the selected sub area and the other sub area An arrangement position presenting section that estimates the arrangement position of the image forming apparatus based on the distribution of the electric field strength in the other sub-region, and the arrangement position Offer Received by the mobile terminal device when performing peer-to-peer wireless communication between the image forming device arranged at the arrangement position presented by the unit and the mobile terminal device moving in the living room area And an arrangement position evaluation unit that evaluates the arrangement position based on the measurement result of the electric field strength of the radio wave from the image forming apparatus.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an apparatus arrangement presentation system that presents the arrangement position of an image forming apparatus in a living room to a user in consideration of the electric field strength distribution of radio waves from the image forming apparatus.

  These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an apparatus arrangement presentation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the mobile terminal device 1 and the image forming device 2 in the system shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a living room layout. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the measurement of the electric field strength when the image forming apparatus is arranged at the presented arrangement position. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the output of the evaluation result of the presented arrangement position.

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

Embodiment 1 FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an apparatus arrangement presentation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system shown in FIG. 1 includes a mobile terminal device 1 carried by a user and an image forming apparatus 2 (multifunction machine, printer, copier, etc.). The image forming apparatus 2 is disposed in the living room 3.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the mobile terminal device 1 and the image forming device 2 in the system shown in FIG.

  The mobile terminal device 1 is a portable device such as a smartphone that performs peer-to-peer communication with the image forming device 2 using Wi-Fi Direct and can use the image forming device 2, and includes a wireless communication device 11, a position detection device 12, A display device 13, an input device 14, a storage device 15, an arithmetic processing device 16 and the like are provided.

  The wireless communication device 11 is an internal device that performs data communication according to a predetermined wireless communication standard such as a wireless LAN or Bluetooth (registered trademark).

  The position detection device 12 is a device that detects the current position of the mobile terminal device 1 using, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System), an indoor positioning system, or the like.

  The display device 13 is an internal device such as a liquid crystal display that displays an operation screen or the like to the user. The input device 14 is an internal device such as a touch panel that detects a user operation.

  The storage device 15 is a nonvolatile storage device such as a flash memory or a hard disk. The storage device 15 stores a program 21 and the like.

  The arithmetic processing unit 16 is a computer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), etc., and loads the program 21 into the RAM and executes it on the CPU, thereby executing the application 22. Realize.

  On the other hand, in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 2 includes a printing device 31, an image reading device 32, an operation panel 33, a wireless communication device 34, a storage device 35, and a controller 36.

  The printing device 31 is an internal device that prints an image page by page on a print sheet in an electrophotographic manner based on print image data.

  The image reading device 32 is an internal device that reads a document image from a document and generates image data (that is, scan data).

  The operation panel 33 is disposed on the housing surface of the image forming apparatus 2 and includes a display device that displays various types of information to the user, and an input device that receives user operations. For example, a liquid crystal display is used as the display device. A key switch, a touch panel, or the like is used as the input device.

  The wireless communication device 34 is an internal device that performs data communication according to a predetermined wireless communication standard such as a wireless LAN or Bluetooth (registered trademark).

  When the image forming apparatus 2 communicates with the mobile terminal apparatus 1, the image forming apparatus 2 performs peer-to-peer communication directly between the mobile terminal apparatus 1 and the wireless communication apparatus 34.

  The storage device 35 is a non-volatile storage device such as a flash memory or a hard disk. The storage device 35 stores a program 41 and the like.

  The controller 36 includes a computer, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), and the like, and controls an internal device in the image forming apparatus 2. The controller 36 implements the wireless measurement processing unit 42 by executing the program 41 with a computer.

  The wireless measurement processing unit 42 causes the wireless communication device 34 to continuously perform peer-to-peer communication with the mobile terminal device 1 in the measurement mode. Thereby, in the measurement mode, the mobile terminal device 1 can measure the electric field strength of the radio wave from the wireless communication device 34.

  In the first embodiment, the application 22 of the mobile terminal device 1 operates as the living room layout specifying unit 22a, the arrangement position presentation unit 22b, and the arrangement position evaluation unit 22c.

  The room layout specifying unit 22a specifies (a) a room area in which the image forming apparatus 2 is to be placed, and (b) specifies an obstacle (a pillar made of various materials, a bookcase, etc.) in the room area based on a user operation. .

  For example, the user manually inputs the position information of the four corners of the living room 3, or places the mobile terminal device 1 in the four corners of the living room 3 and causes the position detecting device 12 to detect the position information of the position. Then, the room layout specification unit 22a specifies a rectangular area specified based on the position information of the four corners of the room 3 as the room area.

  Also, for example, the room layout specifying unit 22a displays an image of the specified room area on the display device 13, and the user operates the input device 14 to display an obstacle image on the displayed image of the room area. When the type (pillar, bookcase, etc.), position, and size are specified, the room layout specifying unit 22a specifies an obstacle based on the user operation.

  In addition, the room layout specifying unit 22a specifies the structure type (wooden, reinforced concrete structure, steel structure, etc.) of the building of the living room 3 according to the user operation, and also specifies the position of the window when there is a window.

  The arrangement position presentation unit 22b (a) divides the room area into a plurality of sub areas, (b) sequentially selects one of the plurality of sub areas, and arranges the image forming apparatus 2 in the selected sub area. The electric field intensity of the radio wave from the image forming apparatus 2 in the other sub-region in the case, the radio wave output characteristics of the image forming device 2, the distance between the selected sub-region and the other sub-region, Based on the structure type, the position of the window, the position of the obstacle, and the like (using an existing simulation program), the image forming apparatus 2 is estimated based on the electric field strength distribution in the other sub-regions. The position of the position is presented.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a living room layout. In the case shown in FIG. 3, an obstacle 102 exists in the living room area 101. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the living room area 101 is divided into a plurality of sub areas, and the image forming apparatus 2 (the center of the image forming apparatus 2 or the wireless communication apparatus 34) is arranged in the selected sub area. The electric field strength in the sub-region is estimated.

  For example, when the electric field strength in all other sub-regions is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, the sub-region selected at that time is presented as the arrangement position of the image forming apparatus 2.

  When the radio wave output characteristic of the image forming apparatus 2 includes directivity (that is, the angle characteristic of radio wave output), the arrangement position presentation unit 22b is based on the electric field intensity distribution in the other sub-regions. Then, the arrangement direction of the image forming apparatus 2 may be presented together with the arrangement position.

  Further, for example, the arrangement position presentation unit 22b accesses a database indicating the radio wave output characteristics for each model of the image forming apparatus 2, and specifies the radio wave output characteristics corresponding to the model of the image forming apparatus 2 designated by the user.

  The arrangement position evaluation unit 22c executes peer-to-peer wireless communication between the image forming apparatus 2 arranged at the arrangement position presented by the arrangement position presentation unit 22b and the mobile terminal device 1 moving in the room area 101. Is evaluated based on the measurement result of the electric field strength of the radio wave from the image forming apparatus 2 received by the mobile terminal apparatus 1 and the evaluation result is output. The evaluation result is printed by the image forming apparatus 2 or displayed on the display device 13 or the operation panel 33.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the measurement of the electric field strength when the image forming apparatus is arranged at the presented arrangement position. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the user places the mobile terminal device 1 in a state where the image forming apparatus 2 is placed at the placement position presented by the placement position presentation unit 22b and the wireless measurement processing unit 42 is operated. The electric field intensity of the radio wave from the image forming apparatus 2 is measured while being carried around and moving in the room area 101.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the output of the evaluation result of the presented arrangement position. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the evaluation result has a plurality of stages such as good, acceptable, and impossible. For example, when all the measurement results of the electric field strength on the movement path are equal to or greater than a predetermined value E1, the evaluation result is good, and a part of the measurement results of the electric field intensity on the movement path is a predetermined value E2 (E2 <E1) In the case of the following, the evaluation result is not allowed, and in the case where the evaluation result is neither good nor impossible, the evaluation result is allowed.

  Then, together with the evaluation result, the electric field intensity distribution in the living room region 101, other arrangement position candidates, and the like are output together.

  Next, the operation of the system will be described.

  In the mobile terminal device 1, the application 22 first operates in the simple simulation mode as the room layout specifying unit 22 a and the arrangement position presentation unit 22 b described above. As described above, the application 22 determines the arrangement position of the image forming apparatus 2 to the user. Present.

  When a plurality of arrangement positions of the image forming apparatus 2 are presented, one arrangement position is selected by a user operation on the input device 14.

  When a predetermined user operation is detected after the image forming apparatus 2 is arranged at the arrangement position by the user, the application 22 shifts to the measurement mode and operates as the arrangement position evaluation unit 22c, as described above. The evaluation result of the arrangement position is output using the display device 13 or the image forming device 2.

  If the evaluation result is good, the user may use the image forming apparatus 2 at the arrangement position. If the evaluation result is not good, the user moves the image forming apparatus 2 to another arrangement position as necessary. After the movement, the measurement can be performed again in the measurement mode, and the installation position where the evaluation result is good can be found.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the room layout specifying unit 22a (a) a room area where the image forming apparatus 2 capable of performing peer-to-peer wireless communication with the mobile terminal apparatus 1 is to be disposed. 101 is specified, and (b) the obstacle 102 in the living room area 101 is specified based on the user operation. The arrangement position presentation unit 22b (a) divides the living room area 101 into a plurality of sub areas, (b) sequentially selects one of the plurality of sub areas, and arranges the image forming apparatus 2 in the selected sub area. In this case, the electric field strength of the radio wave from the image forming apparatus 2 in the other sub area is determined by the radio wave output characteristics of the image forming apparatus 2, the distance between the selected sub area and the other sub area, and the position of the obstacle 102. Based on the electric field intensity distribution in the other sub-regions, the arrangement position of the image forming apparatus 2 is presented. The arrangement position evaluation unit 22c executes peer-to-peer wireless communication between the image forming apparatus 2 arranged at the arrangement position presented by the arrangement position presentation unit 22b and the mobile terminal device 1 moving in the room area 101. The arrangement position is evaluated based on the measurement result of the electric field strength of the radio wave from the image forming apparatus 2 received by the mobile terminal apparatus 1.

  Accordingly, the arrangement position of the image forming apparatus 2 in the living room 3 is appropriately presented to the user in consideration of the electric field strength distribution of the radio wave from the image forming apparatus 2. Therefore, the user can arrange the image forming apparatus 2 at an appropriate arrangement position without specialized knowledge such as a site survey.

Embodiment 2. FIG.

  In the second embodiment, the room layout specifying unit 22a, the arrangement position presentation unit 22b, and the arrangement position evaluation unit 22c described above are built in the image forming apparatus 2. In the second embodiment, the operation panel 33 is used in place of the display device 13 and the input device 14 as a user interface for the room layout specifying unit 22a, the arrangement position presentation unit 22b, and the arrangement position evaluation unit 22c. The

  Since the other configuration and operation of the device arrangement presentation system according to the second embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

Embodiment 3 FIG.

  In the third embodiment, when a predetermined user operation is detected, the arrangement position evaluation unit 22c performs a fine adjustment of the arrangement position presented by the arrangement position presentation unit 22b and a specific position in the living room area. When the peer-to-peer wireless communication is executed with the mobile terminal device 1 arranged in the mobile terminal device 1, the measurement result of the electric field strength of the radio wave from the image forming device 2 received by the mobile terminal device 1 is sent to the user in real time. Present. For example, the measured electric field strength is displayed on the mobile terminal device 1 or the image forming device 2 in real time.

  For example, the user confirms the measurement result of the electric field strength in real time while changing the arrangement position or the arrangement direction of the image forming apparatus 2 in a state where the mobile terminal device 1 is arranged at a position where the electric field strength is low. Identify the correct placement position or appropriate orientation.

  Since other configurations and operations of the device arrangement presentation system according to Embodiment 3 are the same as those in Embodiment 1 or Embodiment 2, the description thereof is omitted.

  Various changes and modifications to the above-described embodiment will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter and without diminishing its intended advantages. That is, such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the claims.

  The present invention is applicable to, for example, determination of an arrangement position of an image forming apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mobile terminal device 2 Image forming apparatus 22a Living room layout specific part 22b Arrangement position presentation part 22c Arrangement position evaluation part

Claims (5)

(A) specifying a room area where an image forming apparatus capable of performing peer-to-peer wireless communication with a mobile terminal device is to be placed, and (b) a room specifying an obstacle in the room area based on a user operation Layout specific part,
(A) dividing the living room area into a plurality of sub-areas; (b) selecting another one of the plurality of sub-areas in order and arranging the image forming apparatus in the selected sub-area; The electric field intensity of the radio wave from the image forming apparatus is estimated based on the radio wave output characteristics of the image forming apparatus, the distance between the selected sub-region and the other sub-region, and the position of the obstacle. An arrangement position presentation unit that presents an arrangement position of the image forming apparatus based on the distribution of the electric field strength in the other sub-region;
The mobile when performing peer-to-peer wireless communication between the image forming apparatus arranged at the arrangement position presented by the arrangement position presentation unit and the mobile terminal device moving in the living room area An arrangement position evaluation unit that evaluates the arrangement position based on the measurement result of the electric field strength of the radio wave from the image forming apparatus received by the terminal device;
A device arrangement presentation system comprising:   The arrangement position evaluation unit is performing peer-to-peer wireless communication between the image forming apparatus that is finely adjusting the arrangement position and the mobile terminal apparatus that is arranged at a specific position in the living room area. 2. The apparatus arrangement presentation system according to claim 1, wherein a measurement result of the electric field intensity of the radio wave from the image forming apparatus received by the mobile terminal apparatus is presented to the user in real time. The radio wave output characteristics of the image forming apparatus include directivity,
The arrangement position presentation unit presents the arrangement direction of the image forming apparatus together with the arrangement position based on the distribution of the electric field strength in the other sub-region;
The apparatus arrangement presentation system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the above-mentioned.   The said living room layout specific | specification part, the said arrangement position presentation part, and the said arrangement position evaluation part are incorporated in the said mobile terminal device, The any one of Claims 1-3 characterized by the above-mentioned. Device layout presentation system.   4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the room layout specifying unit, the arrangement position presentation unit, and the arrangement position evaluation unit are built in the image forming apparatus. 5. Device layout presentation system.

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