JP2023105995A - Communication device, radio communication system, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a communication device capable of performing stable communications by preventing much time from being required for retrieving an access point of a high radio field intensity, a radio communication system, and a program.SOLUTION: Channel information including identification information for identification from the other communication device and information relating to a channel of radio communications with the other communication device, to which an own device is connected at present, is transmitted to a server and a connection history including a radio wave intensity for each other communication device to which the own device is connected is stored. The channel information including information of the other communication device is received from the server. In a case where the channel of the radio communications with the other communication device to which the own device is connected at present is a channel of a predetermined frequency band and there is a communication device of a stronger radio wave intensity than the radio wave intensity of the other communication device to which the own device is connected in present in the connection history, a connection destination is retrieved within a range of channels described in channel information of the communication device of the stronger radio wave intensity and the channel of the radio communications with the communication device to which the own device is connected at present.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

The present invention relates to communication devices, wireless communication systems, and programs.

An order management system used in a restaurant consists of an input terminal that inputs order information and communicates wirelessly, a communication device that has an access point function that connects the order terminal device to a network, and a wireless relay device that relays wireless communication. , a plurality of output devices (printers and display devices) and an order management device that controls them.

Here, the wireless relay device and the input terminal select and connect to an access point with high radio wave intensity.
On the other hand, in recent years, radio wave interference has often become a problem, and a DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection) function is adopted as an access point function to avoid radio wave interference (Patent Document 1).

WO2021/049468

When searching for an access point with a channel different from the current channel in order to search for an access point with a higher signal strength than the current access point while the wireless relay device or input terminal is connected to the access point, channel. In particular, when there are many channels to switch to, it takes a long time to search. Moreover, when the channel is changed by the DFS function, there is also the problem that a certain waiting time occurs.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a communication device and a wireless communication system capable of performing stable communication by preventing the search for an access point with high radio field strength from taking a long time. , and to provide programs.

The communication device of the first aspect includes identification information for identifying the device having the access point function from other communication devices having the access point function, and wireless communication with the other communication device to which the device is currently connected. a transmission unit that transmits channel information including information about a channel to a server; a storage unit that stores a connection history including the radio wave intensity of each of the other communication devices to which the device is connected; and the other communication from the server A receiving unit for receiving the channel information including device information, and a channel for wireless communication with the other communication device to which the device is currently connected is a channel in a predetermined frequency band, and the connection history includes , if there is a communication device with a radio field strength stronger than that of the other communication device currently connected, the channel described in the channel information of the communication device with the stronger radio field strength and the currently connected communication device a search unit that searches for a connection destination within a range of wireless communication channels.

According to the communication device of the first aspect, it is possible to provide a communication device capable of performing stable communication by preventing a time-consuming search for an access point with high radio wave intensity.

Further, in the communication device of the second aspect, the predetermined frequency band is a DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection) frequency band.

According to the communication device of the second aspect, even when the channel is changed by DFS, it is possible to prevent the search for an access point with high radio field strength from taking a long time and to perform stable communication. It becomes possible to provide the device.

Further, in the communication device of the third aspect, the search unit executes the search when the radio wave intensity is stronger than a value obtained by adding a predetermined value to the radio wave intensity of the currently connected other communication device. do.

According to the communication device of the third aspect, it is possible to reduce the number of processes for switching access points and prevent communication from becoming unstable due to unnecessary switching of access points.

Further, a wireless communication system of a fourth aspect comprises a communication device, a plurality of other communication devices connected to the communication device, and a server to which the communication device and the other communication devices are connected, The communication device includes identification information for identifying the device having the access point function from other communication devices having the access point function, and information about the channel of wireless communication with the other communication device to which the device is currently connected. a transmission unit for transmitting to a server channel information containing and if there is a communication device with a stronger radio wave intensity than the currently connected other communication device in the connection history, the communication device with the stronger radio wave intensity a search unit that searches for a connection destination within the range of the channel described in the channel information and the channel of wireless communication with the currently connected communication device;

According to the wireless communication system of the fourth aspect, it is possible to provide a wireless communication system capable of stable communication by preventing the search for an access point with high radio field strength from taking a long time.

In addition, the program of the fifth aspect stores, in the computer, identification information for identifying the own device having the access point function from other communication devices having the access point function, and the other communication device to which the own device is currently connected. to the server, stores the connection history including the radio field intensity for each of the other communication devices connected to the device, and transmits the information of the other communication device from the server to the server. If the channel information including information is received, and if there is a communication device with a stronger radio wave intensity than the other communication device currently connected in the connection history, the channel of the communication device with the stronger radio wave intensity A process of searching for a connection destination within the range of the channel described in the information and the channel of wireless communication with the currently connected communication device is executed.

According to the program of the fifth aspect, it is possible to provide a program capable of performing stable communication by preventing the search for an access point with high radio wave intensity from taking a long time.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a communication device capable of performing stable communication by preventing the search for an access point with high radio wave intensity from taking a long time.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an order management system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a wired device according to an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a radio relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an example of a channel information file according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an example of connection history according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an example of a Beacon list according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a state when a channel is changed by DFS according to the embodiment of the present invention; 4 is a flow chart showing an example of processing for connecting to an access point according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing an example of step S105 in FIG. 8. FIG. FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing an example of step S107 in FIG. 8. FIG.

An example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, the same or equivalent components and portions are given the same reference numerals. Also, the dimensional ratios in the drawings are exaggerated for convenience of explanation, and may differ from the actual ratios.

An example of an order management system 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the order management system 1 is an example of a wireless communication system.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an order management system 1 according to this embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, an order management system 1 according to this embodiment is housed in a store such as a restaurant. The order management system 1 includes a controller 10, communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B, and 30C, an input terminal 40, an accounting device 50, and a router 60.

The controller 10 in this embodiment has a server function for managing the entire order management system 1 . Also, the controller 10 can communicate with each of the communication devices 20A, 20B, accounting device 50, and router 60 via the wired network N1. Also, the controller 10 can communicate with the communication devices 30A, 30B, 30C and the input terminal 40 via the wireless network N2. For the wired network N1, for example, a wired LAN (Local Area Network) constructed in the store is applied. Wi-Fi (registered trademark) or the like, which is an example of a wireless LAN standard, is applied to the wireless network N2. That is, the controller 10 also has a wireless communication function as an access point of the wireless network N2. The access point function of the controller 10 will be described later together with the access point functions of the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B. Further, in this embodiment, the controller 10 having the access point function is also called an access point.

Here, a case of using Wi-Fi (registered trademark), which is an example of the wireless network N2, will be described. In Wi-Fi (registered trademark), channels (CH) using a predetermined frequency band, for example, W53 (5260 MHz to 5320 MHz) of 52, 56, 60, 64 channels, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, W56 (5500 MHz to 5720 MHz) with 124, 128, 132, 136, 140 and 144 channels is used. The frequency bands of the W53 and W56 channels are frequency bands that may interfere with radar waves such as weather radar and aircraft radar. For this reason, a DFS function is provided in which, when a radar wave is detected, the channel of that frequency band cannot be used for a predetermined period of time.

Further, as will be described later, the controller 10 according to the present embodiment stores channel information files (see FIG. 4) transmitted from the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A and 30B, and stores the channel information files (see FIG. 4). , 30C.

The communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B, and 30C in the present embodiment include handy terminals used by customer service personnel for business, tablet terminals used by customers at each table, smartphones personally owned by customers, and the like. can communicate with each of the input terminals 40 via the wireless network N2. That is, the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B have wireless communication functions as access points of the wireless network N2. Here, in this embodiment, the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B having access point functions are also referred to as access points. The communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B, and 30C are wirelessly connected to the wired devices 20A, 20B and 20A, 20B connected to the wired network N1, and connect the input terminal 40 to the wired network N1. It is composed of wireless relay devices 30A and 30B (so-called repeaters) that relay connection. The wireless relay devices 30A and 30B mainly relay the input terminal 40 and the wired devices 20A and 20B, which are mainly used in places where it is difficult for radio waves to reach from the access points of the wired devices 20A and 20B in the store. , to the wired devices 20A and 20B. In addition, it is not limited to the case where all of the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B have wireless communication functions as access points. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the communication device 30C does not have a wireless communication function as an access point. Further, when it is not necessary to distinguish between the wired devices 20A and 20B, and when the wired devices 20A and 20B are collectively referred to as the wired device 20 and the wireless relay devices 30A and 30B need not be distinguished and explained, The wireless relay devices 30A and 30B are also collectively referred to as the wireless relay device 30. FIG.

The input terminal 40 in this embodiment is a device for inputting order data, such as a handy terminal used by a person in charge of customer service, a tablet terminal used by a customer at each table, or a smart phone owned by a customer personally. be.

The accounting device 50 in this embodiment is connected to a wired network N1, and as an example, a POS (Point Of Sales) register or the like is applied.

The router 60 in this embodiment is a device for connecting the wired network N1 and the external network N3. The external network N3 may be, for example, the Internet, WAN (Wide Area Network), VPN (Virtual Private Network), or the like.

For example, the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B transmit to the controller 10 the order data indicating the order received from the customer received from the input terminal 40 via the wireless network N2. The controller 10 stores and manages the received order data for each customer. The controller 10 generates slip data for printing a slip based on the received order data, and transmits the generated slip data to a printer (not shown) to output the slip. The checkout device 50 performs checkout processing for each visitor based on the slip printed by the printer, and transmits information indicating completion of checkout processing to the controller 10 . A part of the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B, and 30C may have a printer function.

The controller 10 and the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B each having an access point function transmit Beacons periodically, for example, every 15 seconds (not shown). 40. As shown in FIG. 6, such a beacon includes the radio wave intensity, and the wireless relay device 30 stores the past radio wave intensity as a beacon list.

(Communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B, 30C)
Next, hardware configurations of the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B, and 30C according to this embodiment will be described. Since the wireless relay device 30 has the same basic configuration as the wired device 20, the wired device 20 will be described as a representative. Note that the radio relay device 30 does not include a radar detection unit 108, which will be described later.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of wired device 20 according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 2, the wired device 20 according to the present embodiment includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 102, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 103, a storage 104, an input unit 105, a display It has a section 106 , a communication interface (I/F) 107 and a radar detection section 108 . Each component is communicatively connected to each other via a bus 109 .

A CPU 101 is a central processing unit that executes various programs and controls each section. That is, the CPU 101 reads a program from the ROM 102 or the storage 104 and executes the program using the RAM 103 as a work area. The CPU 101 performs control of the above components and various arithmetic processing according to programs recorded in the ROM 102 or the storage 104 .

The ROM 102 stores various programs and various data. The RAM 103 temporarily stores programs or data as a work area. The storage 104 is configured by a storage device such as a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive), or flash memory, and stores various programs including an operating system and various data. Also, the storage 104 is an example of a storage unit.

The input unit 105 includes a pointing device such as a mouse and a keyboard, and is used for various inputs.

The display unit 106 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, and displays various information under the control of the CPU 101 . Further, the display unit 106 may employ a touch panel system and function as the input unit 105 .

The communication interface 107 is an interface for communicating with other devices in the store. For example, the wired device 20 uses Ethernet (registered trademark) and the wireless relay device 30 uses Wi-Fi (registered trademark). standards are used.

Here, the programs stored in the ROM 102 or storage 104 may be preinstalled in the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B, and 30C. Alternatively, the program may be stored in a nonvolatile storage medium or distributed via a network and installed in the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B, and 30C as appropriate. Examples of non-volatile storage media include CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory), DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disk Read Only Memory), USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, and SD (registered trademark) card. etc. memory cards, etc. are envisioned.

A radar detector 108 detects radar waves for the DFS function. When such a radar wave is detected, the CPU 101 stops the currently used channel and changes the channel used for wireless communication.

In addition, when the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B, and 30C have a printer function, they have a print section.

When executing the above programs, the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B, and 30C implement various functions using the above hardware resources. Here, a functional configuration realized by the wireless relay device 30 among the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B, and 30C will be described.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the CPU 101 of the wireless relay device 30. As shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the wireless relay device 30 has a transmitting section 110, a receiving section 120, and a searching section 130 as functional configurations. Each functional configuration is realized by the CPU 101 reading and executing a program stored in the ROM 102 or the storage 104 .

(Sending unit 110)
The transmitting unit 110 includes identification information for identifying its own device having the access point function from the other communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B having the access point function, the other communication device 20A to which the own device is currently connected, 20B, 30A, 30B channel information to the controller 10.
The timing at which the transmission unit transmits the channel information is, for example, when each communication device 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B is activated, or when the channel is changed, but is not limited to this, and may be transmitted periodically. good too.
The transmitted channel information is stored by the CPU 101 of the controller 10 as a channel information file (see FIG. 4).

(Receiver 120)
The receiving unit 120 receives channel information including information of the other communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B from the controller 10 . That is, the receiver 120 receives the channel information file from the controller 10 .

(Search unit 130)
The search unit 130 determines that the wireless communication channel to the other communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B to which the device is currently connected is a channel in a predetermined frequency band, and the connection history (see FIG. 5) includes: If there is a communication device 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B with a stronger radio field strength than the radio field strength of the currently connected other communication device 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B, the communication device 20A, 20B, 30A with the stronger radio field strength , 30B and the channels of the currently connected communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B. Here, the predetermined frequency band is a DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection) frequency band. In addition, the search unit 130 triggers the DFS when the radio field strength is stronger than the value obtained by adding a predetermined value, for example, 30 dBm to the radio field strength of the currently connected communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B. Execute a search (scan) for In this way, if the signal strength of the current connection destination is high, by not changing the connection destination, the process of switching access points can be reduced, and communication becomes unstable due to unnecessary switching of access points. It is possible to prevent it from happening.

In addition, the search unit 130 connects within the range of the channels described in the channel information of the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B with strong radio wave intensity and the channels of the currently connected communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B. It is possible to search (scan) all channels without being limited to searching (scanning) the previous access point.

Next, an example of the channel information file in this embodiment will be described using FIG.

FIG. 4 is an example of a channel information file stored in the controller 10. As shown in FIG. The channel information file allows each communication device 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B having an access point function to communicate with the controller 10 by communicating with the other communication device 20A, 20B, 30A, 30B having an access point function. and channel information including information on wireless communication channels with other communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B to which the device is currently connected. The controller 10 that has received such information stores the channel information as a channel information file, and also stores information (time stamp) of the stored time. Information stored in the channel information file includes, for example, "device name", "serial number", "MAC address", and "channel". It should be noted that the channel information file is not limited to such information, and other information may be stored in the channel information file, or only part of the information may be stored without storing all such information. Also, the "model name" and "serial number" may be anything as long as the device can be distinguished, and may be an ID number or the like assigned to each model. Also, FIG. 4A, which will be described later, is an example of a channel information file before the channel is changed by the controller 10 (EST01) by DFS. FIG. 4(B) is an example of a channel information file when the channel of the controller 10 (EST01) is changed from 100CH to 104CH shown in FIG. 4(A) by DFS.

1, EST01 corresponds to the controller 10, EST02 corresponds to the communication device 20B, EPR03 corresponds to the communication device 20A, RPR04 corresponds to the communication device 30A, and RST03 corresponds to the communication device 30B.

Further, in this example, as shown in FIG. 4A, before the channel is changed by DFS, the controller 10 (EST01), the communication device 20A (EPR03), and the communication device 30A ( RPR04) is connected by 100CH, and the communication device 20B (EST02) and the communication device 30B (RST01) installed on the right side are connected by 104CH. Note that the communication device 30C (RPR05) in FIG. 1 is not included in the channel information file because it does not have an access point function. Also, as shown in FIG. 4(B), the channel of the controller 10 (EST01) is changed from 100CH shown in FIG. 4(A) to 104CH by DFS.

A case where the controller 10 (EST01) is changed from 100CH to 104CH by DFS will be described later using FIG.

Next, an example of the connection history according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is an example of the connection history stored in the storage 104 by the wireless relay device 30, particularly by the RPR04 (communication device 30A). The wireless relay device 30 stores history information about other communication devices connected in the past. The information stored as the connection history includes history information including the radio wave intensity of each other communication device connected to the own device (RPR04), such as "time", "device name", and "radio wave intensity". . In this example, it is stored that EST01 has a stronger radio wave intensity than EPR03, and EPR03 has a weaker radio wave intensity than EST01.

Next, an example of the Beacon list in this embodiment will be described using FIG.

FIG. 6 is an example of a Beacon list stored in the storage 104 of the wireless relay device 30, particularly the RPR04. The Beacon list stores Beacons received at predetermined intervals, for example, every 100 msec, in order to check whether there is an optimum connection destination on the current channel (CH). As shown in FIG. 6, the Beacon list stores device names that can be connected with the current 100CH, channels for each device name, average radio wave intensity, and past radio wave intensity. Here, the past radio wave intensity stores, for example, the radio wave intensity included in the Beacon received every 15 seconds. Note that the radio wave intensity included in all received Beacons may be stored. It can be seen from the Beacon list shown in FIG. 6 that EST01 has a stronger radio wave intensity than EPR03. When EST01 is changed from 100CH to another 104CH by DFS, it disappears from the Beacon list of RPR04 connected with 100CH.

Next, with reference to FIG. 7, the state when EST01 of 100CH in this embodiment is changed to another channel, for example, 104CH by DFS will be described.
As shown in FIG. 7A, EST01 and EPR03 are access points using 100CH, and RPR04 is connected to EST01 via 100CH. Then, EST01 cannot use 100CH due to DFS, and changes to 104CH as shown in FIG. 7(B). Therefore, the connected RPR04 scans other access points that are the same 100CH, discovers the EPR03, and connects to the EPR03. For convenience of explanation, an example in which only EST01 cannot use 100CH due to DFS is explained.

Next, the operation of the wireless relay device 30 according to this embodiment will be described.
8 to 10 are flowcharts showing the flow of processing for connecting to the optimum access point, which is performed by CPU 101 of RPR04 of wireless relay device 30. FIG. The processing is performed by the CPU 101 reading the program from the ROM 102 or the storage 104, expanding it, and executing it.

Also, in this flowchart, in a representative example, EST01 to which RPR04 of the radio relay apparatus 30 was connected on 100CH changes to 104CH by DFS, and the connection destination of RPR04 changes to EPR03 of 100CH. Thereafter, the process is performed when the RPR04 connects again to the EST01 that has returned from the DFS.

In step S100, the CPU 101 reads the Beacon list (see FIG. 6) stored in the storage 104. FIG. Then, the process proceeds to the next step S101.

In step S101, the CPU 101 acquires the radio wave intensity of the current connection destination. Here, when the channel of EST01 to which RPR04 is connected is changed by DFS, RPR04 is not connected to any access point, so the acquired radio wave intensity of the current connection destination is "0". Then, the process proceeds to the next step S102.

In step S102, the CPU 101 determines whether or not the radio wave intensity of the current connection destination acquired in step S101 described above is greater than the switching threshold value (eg, 50 dBm). If the radio wave intensity of the current connection destination is greater than the switching threshold, the process is terminated. Here, the radio wave intensity of the current connection destination is the average radio wave intensity, but may be the latest radio wave intensity of the Beacon list. The switching threshold is a predetermined radio wave intensity, and is set to a radio wave intensity value that sufficiently stabilizes communication. In this way, if the radio field intensity of the current connection destination is higher than the switching threshold, by not changing the connection destination, processing for switching access points can be reduced and unnecessary access point switching can be performed. It is possible to prevent communication from becoming unstable due to switching.

On the other hand, if the radio wave intensity of the current connection destination is smaller than the switching threshold, the process proceeds to the next step S103. Here, when the channel of the connected EST01 is changed by DFS, the radio wave intensity of the current connection destination is "0" as described above, so the process proceeds to the next step S103.

In step S103, the CPU 101 confirms whether or not there is a change in the connection destination from the Beacon list read out in step S100. That is, it is confirmed whether there is a new connection destination with a higher radio wave intensity than the value obtained by adding a predetermined threshold value to the radio wave intensity of the current connection destination. Then, if there is a new connection destination with a higher radio wave intensity than the value obtained by adding the predetermined threshold value to the radio wave intensity of the current connection destination, the process proceeds to the next step S104. On the other hand, if there is no new connection destination with higher radio field intensity than the current connection destination, the process proceeds to step S105 without going through the next step S104.

In step S104, a reconnection destination is set to a new connection destination having a higher radio wave intensity than the current connection destination confirmed in step S103. That is, in the case of the Beacon list as shown in FIG. 6, if the current connection destination is EPR03, reconnection to EST01, which has a stronger radio wave intensity, is set. Also, when the channel of the connected EST01 is changed by DFS, since EST01 is not listed in the Beacon list, EPR03 is set as a new connection destination to be reconnected. The reconnection set here is connected by connection processing to the reconnection performed in step S109, which will be described later. Then, the process proceeds to the next step S105.

The processing of step S105 will be described using FIG.

In step S200, the CPU 101 acquires the radio wave intensity of the current connection destination. Such processing is similar to that of step S101 in FIG. Then, the process proceeds to the next step S201.

In step S201, the CPU 101 determines whether or not the current channel belongs to the DFS frequency band. If it is determined that the current channel belongs to the DFS frequency band, the process proceeds to the next step S202.

In step S202, the CPU 101 determines whether or not it has already been connected to an access point (AP), and whether or not it has not been connected and a reconnection destination has been set. If it is determined that it is already connected to the access point, the process proceeds to the next step S203. If it is determined that the connection has not been established and the reconnection destination has been set, for example, if the channel has changed in DFS, the process proceeds to step S207, which will be described later. That is, when the channel of the connected EST01 is changed by DFS, the RPR04 is in an unconnected state with no connection destination, but since the setting of the reconnection destination has been completed in step S104 of FIG. Proceed to S207. In other cases, such as when the power is turned on, when the access point is not connected, the process proceeds to step S221, which will be described later.

In step S203, the CPU 101 acquires the time stamp of the channel information file from the controller 10. FIG. Then, the process proceeds to the next step S204.
At step S204, it is determined whether or not the time stamp of the channel information file from the controller 10 has been updated at step S203. If it is determined that the time stamp of the channel information file has been updated, the process proceeds to the next step S205. On the other hand, if it is determined that the time stamp of the channel information file has not been updated, the process ends and the process proceeds to step S106 in FIG. That is, when EST01 of 100CH is changed to 104CH by DFS, and EST01 of 104CH is registered in the channel information file, the time stamp of the channel information file has been updated. Even if EST01 of 100CH is changed to 104CH by DFS, if EST01 of 104CH is not yet registered in the channel information file, the time stamp of the channel information file has not been updated, so processing is terminated. do.

In step S205, the channel information file is acquired from the controller 10 by the CPU 101. FIG. Then, the process proceeds to the next step S206.

At step S206, it is determined whether or not the acquisition of the channel information file from the controller 10 was successful at step S205. If the acquisition of the channel information file succeeds and the contents of the file are compared and it is determined that the contents of the file have been updated, the process proceeds to the next step S207. On the other hand, if the acquisition of the channel information file is successful and it is not determined that the contents of the file have been updated, the process ends and the process proceeds to step S106 in FIG.

In step S207, the past connection destination history (see FIG. 5) stored in the storage 104 is read by the CPU 101. FIG. Then, the process proceeds to the next step S208.

In step S208, it is determined whether or not the past connection destination history has been successfully read in step S207. If it is determined that the past connection destination history has been read successfully, the process proceeds to the next step S209. On the other hand, if it is determined that the past connection destination history has not been read successfully, the process ends and the process proceeds to step S106 in FIG.

In step S209, the CPU 101 determines whether or not the past radio wave intensity is greater than the sum of the current radio wave intensity and the threshold value. That is, if the mobile station has been connected to an access point with a higher radio field strength than the value obtained by adding a predetermined threshold value, for example, 3 dBm to the radio field strength of the current connection destination, the process proceeds to the next step S210. On the other hand, if the access point with the radio field strength higher than the value obtained by adding the predetermined threshold value to the radio field strength of the current connection destination has not been connected in the past, the process ends and the process proceeds to step S106 in FIG. move on. That is, in the past, if you were connected to an access point with a higher radio field strength than the value obtained by adding a predetermined threshold value to the radio field strength of the current connection destination, there is an access point with a stronger radio field strength. treated as if On the other hand, if there is no such access point with strong signal strength, by not changing the connection destination, the process of switching access points is reduced, and communication becomes unstable due to unnecessary switching of access points. It is possible to prevent this. For example, if it is already connected to EST01, which is the access point with the best radio field intensity, or if EST01 is removed from the Beacon list by DFS and there is only EPR03, go to NO. On the other hand, if it is currently connected to EPR03 and there is EST01, proceed to YES.

In step S210, the optimum device of the past connection destination history is obtained from the channel information file obtained in step S203. Here, the optimum device in the past connection destination history is to acquire the channel information of the access point with the strongest radio wave intensity from the access points recorded in the channel information file. That is, in the case of the channel information file of FIG. 4B, since EST01 is the optimum device, the information of 104CH of EST01 is acquired. Then, the process proceeds to the next step S211.

In step S211, it is determined whether or not the optimal device of the past connection destination history has been successfully acquired from the channel information file in step S210 described above. If it is determined that the acquisition of the optimum device in the history of past connection destinations has succeeded, the process proceeds to the next step S212. On the other hand, if it is not determined that the acquisition of the optimum device in the history of past connection destinations has succeeded, the process is terminated, and the process proceeds to step S106 in FIG.

In step S212, a designated CH scan for scanning only designated channels is set. Then, the process ends, and the process proceeds to step S106 in FIG.

If it is not determined in step S201 that the current channel belongs to the DFS frequency band, that is, if it is 2.4 Ghz or W52, which is not in the DFS frequency band, the process proceeds to step S220.

In step S220, the CPU 101 determines whether or not automatic setting is set to select and set a channel with a high radio wave intensity. If it is determined that the automatic setting is set, the process proceeds to the next step S221.

In step S221, a full CH scan is set to scan all channels. Then, the process ends, and the process proceeds to step S106 in FIG.

If it is determined in step S220 that the automatic setting is not set, the process proceeds to step S222, and the designated CH scan for scanning only the designated channel is set. Then, the process ends, and the process proceeds to step S106 in FIG.

At step S106 in FIG. 8, it is determined whether or not there is a scan setting. That is, it is determined whether or not there are scan settings in steps S212, S221, and S222 described above. If there is a scan setting, the process proceeds to the next step S107. On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no scan setting, the process proceeds to step S108 without going through step S107.

The processing of step S107 will be described using FIG.

In step S300, it is determined whether or not there is an all-CH scan setting for the scan setting. That is, it is determined whether or not there is the scan setting set in step S221 of FIG. If it is determined that there is an all-CH scan setting, the process proceeds to the next step S301. If the current channel is in the DFS frequency band, the connection destination is cleared and the process proceeds to the next step S301.

In step S301, all channels are scanned. Then, the process proceeds to the next step S303.

On the other hand, if it is not determined in step S300 that there is an all-CH scan setting, that is, if the specified CH scan setting in steps S212 and S222, the process proceeds to step S302.

In step S302, the channel acquired from the channel information file is scanned. Then, the process proceeds to the next step S303.

In step S303, it is determined whether or not the connection destination is changed based on the results of scanning in steps S301 and S302. That is, it is determined whether or not an access point having a higher radio wave intensity than the currently connected access point is found by scanning. If it is determined that the connection destination is changed, the process proceeds to the next step S304. On the other hand, if it is not determined that the connection destination will be changed, the process is terminated and the process proceeds to step S108 in FIG.

In step S304, a reconnection destination is set. If there is a reconnection destination set in step S104 of FIG. 8, it will be overwritten. The reconnection set here is connected by connection processing to the reconnection performed in step S109, which will be described later. Then, the process ends, and the process proceeds to step S108 in FIG.

In step S108 of FIG. 8, it is determined whether or not there is a reconnection destination setting. That is, in steps S104 and S304 described above, it is determined whether or not a reconnection destination has been set. If it is determined that there is a reconnection destination setting, the process proceeds to the next step S109. On the other hand, if it is determined that the connection has already been made and the reconnection destination is not set, the process ends. If there is no connection destination, the process returns to step S107 described above. Here, when there is no connection destination, when the power of RPR04 is turned on, or when another access point is waiting after the channel is changed by DFS, and no access point exists even after scanning. is.

In step S109, connection processing is performed to the set reconnection destination. Then, the process proceeds to the next step S110.

In step S110, it is determined whether or not the process of connecting to the reconnection destination in step S109 described above has succeeded. If it is determined that the connection processing to the reconnection destination has succeeded, the processing ends. On the other hand, if it is not determined that the connection processing to the reconnection destination has succeeded, the process proceeds to the next step S111.

In step S111, the reconnection destination is cleared. That is, if there is a reconnection destination set in steps S104 and S304 described above, it is cleared. Then, the process returns to step S107 described above.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications other than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

According to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide the communication devices 20A, 20B, 30A, and 30B that are capable of performing stable communication by preventing time-consuming searches for access points with high radio field strength. Become. That is, even if the channel is changed by the DFS, by limiting the channels to be searched, the search processing can be reduced compared to the case of searching all channels. It is possible to prevent disconnection of communication due to the switching of .

1 order management system 10 controller 20 communication device 30 communication device 110 transmission unit 120 reception unit 130 search unit

Claims (5)

Channel information including identification information that identifies the own device with access point function from other communication devices with access point function, and information on wireless communication channels with other communication devices that the own device is currently connected to a transmission unit for transmitting to a server;
a storage unit that stores a connection history including the radio wave intensity of each of the other communication devices connected to the own device;
a receiving unit that receives the channel information including the information of the other communication device from the server;
A channel for wireless communication with the other communication device to which the device is currently connected is a channel of a predetermined frequency band, and the connection history includes a radio wave stronger than the radio wave strength of the other communication device to which the device is currently connected. If there is a communication device with strong radio wave strength, a search unit that searches for a connection destination within the range of the channel described in the channel information of the communication device with strong radio wave strength and the channel of wireless communication with the currently connected communication device and a communication device. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined frequency band is a DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection) frequency band. 3. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the search unit executes the search when the radio wave intensity is stronger than a value obtained by adding a predetermined value to the radio wave intensity of the currently connected other communication device. . a communication device;
a plurality of other communication devices connected to the communication device;
a server to which the communication device and the other communication device are connected;
The communication device
Channel information including identification information that identifies the own device with access point function from other communication devices with access point function, and information on wireless communication channels with other communication devices that the own device is currently connected to a transmission unit for transmitting to a server;
a storage unit that stores a connection history including the radio wave intensity of each of the other communication devices connected to the own device;
a receiving unit that receives the channel information including the information of the other communication device from the server;
If the connection history includes a communication device with a stronger radio field strength than the currently connected communication device, the channel described in the channel information of the communication device with the stronger radio field strength is currently connected. a search unit that searches for a connection destination within a range of a channel for wireless communication with a communication device. to the computer,
Channel information including identification information that identifies the own device with access point function from other communication devices with access point function, and information on wireless communication channels with other communication devices that the own device is currently connected to send to the server,
storing a connection history including the radio field intensity for each of the other communication devices connected to the device;
receiving the channel information including the information of the other communication device from the server;
If the connection history includes a communication device with a stronger radio field strength than the currently connected communication device, the channel described in the channel information of the communication device with the stronger radio field strength is currently connected. A program for executing a process of searching for a connection destination within the range of a wireless communication channel with a communication device.

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