JP2858558B2 - Simple wireless local area network system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a base unit and a plurality of base units including a base unit and a base unit and a plurality of base units, which are connected to each other by a computer on a wireless local area network (hereinafter referred to as LAN). The present invention relates to a connected simple wireless LAN system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a LAN system is generally constructed by a computer on a LAN, a computer is connected to a master unit and a slave unit by a wired system or a wireless system. When constructing a wireless LAN system, a wireless station is provided on the installed backbone cable. In particular, when connecting a lower-level external computer to the master unit or slave unit via a communication line, a router etc. is specially installed. Connected.

[0005] Incidentally, as a known technique related to such a LAN system, a cordless LAN system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-1349 / 1993 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-145 / 1992 are disclosed.
549, a data transmitting / receiving method in a LAN system, an apparatus therefor, a LAN system disclosed in JP-A-5-268224, and a JP-A-5-2841.
For example, a wireless LAN system disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-327715 and a wireless / wired LAN system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-327715.

[0004]

In the case of the above-mentioned wireless LAN system, in order to communicate with a wireless station connected to a computer at the time of construction, a main cable is laid in a premises where the LAN is constructed. Although it is necessary to arrange wireless stations, it takes time and effort to perform such a construction, so that when a new wireless LAN is introduced, it is not only difficult to construct a LAN immediately, but also for the system. There is a problem that the cost required for the construction is relatively high.

In the case of the above-mentioned wireless LAN system,
This is a function that replaces the wired LAN system with a wireless LAN system. When an external computer is connected to the master unit or slave unit via a communication line, a special router or the like is required. Cannot be easily performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and its technical problems are to save labor for construction work when constructing a system and to simplify introduction of a new wireless LAN. An object of the present invention is to provide a simplified wireless LAN system that can easily perform communication connection of an external computer.

[0007]

According to the present invention, a computer is connected over a wireless LAN to a master unit and a plurality of slave units including a connection relationship between the slave unit and the slave units,
It is possible to transmit and receive communication data by making a connection by dialing based on the address information from a specific one of the computers to another one to be a communication partner through the master unit and any of the plurality of slave units, In the simplified wireless LAN system in which the master unit is connected to a communication line and the computer can transmit and receive the communication data to and from a lower-level external computer connected through the communication line,
The computer, together with the address information, the correspondence between the computer name, the dial information of the master unit or a plurality of slave units to which the computer is connected, and the information as to whether the connection is always made or the unit of connection is made as a connection attribute. An address information section for storing address information, a communication control section for converting address information into dial information and controlling communication with a communication partner via a computer connection section provided in each of the master unit and the plurality of slave units, and If there is information on the computer having the attribute to be connected, the dial information of the computer is obtained from the address information part. If there is no information, the dial information corresponding to the designated computer name is obtained from the address information part. As a result, a simplified wireless LAN system including an interface unit for transmission to the communication control unit is obtained.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A simple wireless LAN system according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a simplified wireless LAN system according to one embodiment of the present invention. The simplified wireless LAN system includes a master unit 1 including a master unit and a slave unit and a connection relationship between the slave units, and a plurality of (here, two) slave units 3 and 5 connected to computers 2 and 4 on a wireless LAN. , 6 are individually connected one to one. Here, a connection is made by dialing from a specific one of the computers 2, 4, and 6 to another communication partner via one of the parent device 1 and the child devices 3 and 5 based on the address information, and the communication data is transmitted. Can be transmitted and received.
The base unit 1 is also connected to a communication line, so that the computers 2, 4, and 6 can transmit and receive communication data to and from a lower-level external computer (not shown) connected via the communication line. I have.

The computers 2, 4, and 6 correspond to each other individually and in a one-to-one correspondence, together with address information, a computer name, dial information of a master unit or a plurality of slave units connected to the computer, And address information units 10, 14, and 18 for storing information on whether to always connect or to connect in a request unit as an attribute at the time of connection.
And the address information is converted into dial information and transmitted to the communication partner via the computer connection units 7, 11, and 15 provided for the master unit 1 and the slave units 3 and 5 individually in one-to-one correspondence. Communication control units 8, 12, which perform communication control of
If there is information on a computer having an attribute of constantly connecting, the dial information of the computer is obtained from the address information units 10, 14, and 18, and if there is no information, the dial corresponding to the designated computer name is obtained. Interface units 9, 13, 17 for acquiring information from the address information units 10, 14, 18 and transmitting them to the communication control units 8, 12, 16; and application programs 19, 20, 21 for managing operations. I have.

In this simplified wireless LAN system,
For example, an operation in the case of transmitting and receiving communication data from the computer 4 to another computer 2 connected to the master unit 1 will be described. In the computer 4, the address information section 1
4 is transmitted to the communication control unit 12 via the interface unit 13. The communication control unit 12 converts the address information into dial information for connecting to the parent device 1 via the computer connection unit 11 of the child device 3. The slave 3 dials and calls the master 1 based on the dial information from the computer connection unit 11.

Here, when the base unit 1 is in a communicable state,
The slave 3 is connected to the communication control unit 1 via the computer connection unit 11.
2 is notified that communication is possible. Thus, in the computer 4, the communication control unit 12 notifies the application program 20 via the interface unit 13 that communication is possible. Thus, the application program 20 of the computer 4 starts transmitting and receiving communication data.

On the other hand, when the base unit 1 is in a state where communication is impossible,
The slave 3 is connected to the communication control unit 1 via the computer connection unit 11.
Notify 2 that communication is not possible. Therefore, in the computer 4, the communication control unit 12 sets a dial retry interval according to the information registered in the computer 4 and retries according to the number of retries. If communication is still impossible, the application program 20 is transmitted via the interface unit 13. And the reason for the inability to communicate.

By the way, when communication data is transmitted and received between the computer 4 and a lower-level external computer via a communication line connected to the base unit 1, the computer 4 also transmits the address information of the address information section 14 to the interface section. 13 and transmitted to the communication control unit 12. The communication control unit 12 transmits the address information to the computer connection unit 1.
1 is converted into dial information for connecting the slave unit 3 to an external computer. The child device 3 first dials the dial information via the computer connection portion 11 to the external computer via the computer connection portion 7 of the parent device 1 and calls it. In this case, the slave unit 3 is fixedly connected to the master unit 1.

When the external computer of the communication partner is in a communicable state via the communication line, the master unit 1 notifies the slave unit 3 that communication is possible. In the same manner as the operation 1, the communication control unit 12 is notified that communication is possible via the computer connection unit 11. Notice.

[0016] Such a simplified wireless LAN system includes:
It is desirable that the parent device 1 and the child devices 2 and 3 be applied as a low-power cordless telephone. However, in such a case, the computer connection parts 7, 11, and 15 have a shape like a modular jack, and the communication control parts 8, 12, and 16 have a shape that can be connected to a computer expansion device mounting part and a communication port. It is desirable that the address information units 10, 14, and 18 are storage devices such as a random access memory, a read only memory, and a disk, respectively.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, when the base unit 1 is used as a low power type cordless telephone, a personal computer or a workstation may be used as the computer 2.

In such a case, for the base unit 1, the computer connection unit 7 is composed of a communication line connection unit 7a, a computer communication conversion unit 7b, and a modular connection unit 7c. Among them, the communication line connection unit 7a is a telephone for making a communication connection with a lower-level external computer via a communication line, and the computer communication conversion unit 7b transmits a communication data signal received from the computer 2 to the communication line connection unit 7a. This is a signal conversion circuit having a signal conversion function for transmission, and the modular connection unit 7c is a 4-core or 8-core modular type connection component for connecting to the computer 2.

On the other hand, with respect to the computer 2, the communication control unit 8 has a circuit for converting the signal into a signal recognizable by the cordless telephone of the base unit 1 and software for performing communication control. It has software for controlling a request from the program 19 to the communication control unit 8. The address information section 10 includes a lower-level external computer or a dial which recognizes dial information and address information of a wireless LAN, a random access disk, and the like.
Memory, read only memory, cable C
Is a twisted pair cable for connecting the base unit 1 and the computer 2.

Here, in this wireless LAN system, the wireless LAN
The case where communication data is transmitted / received to / from another computer by using the communication will be described.

In this case, the computer 2 specifies the computer name stored in the address information section 10,
It makes a request to the interface unit 9. Address information section 10
Is the computer name, the dial number of the master unit or each slave unit to which the computer is connected, the dial number through the communication line of the lower-level external computer, and always connected as connection attributes or connected in units of requests. The correspondence with the information on whether or not to do is stored.

Here, it is necessary to first set the software of the communication control unit 8 and the interface unit 9 to be activated when the power of the computer 2 is turned on. When the communication control unit 8 starts operating, it issues an instruction to the interface unit 9 to acquire the name of the computer that is always connected, the dial information, and the address information among the information stored in the address information unit 10. The interface unit 9 receives a command from the communication control unit 8 and acquires a computer name, dial information, and address information from the address information unit 10. The interface unit 9 notifies the communication control unit 8 of the completion result when the acquisition of the information of the address information unit 10 is completed.

When the communication control unit 8 is always connected at the time of receiving the notification from the interface unit 9, the communication control unit 8 receives dial information from the interface unit 9 to a partner to be always connected,
A dial instruction is issued to master device 1 via cable C. Base unit 1 establishes a connection with the communication partner, and notifies communication control unit 8 of the completion of the connection with the communication partner. Incidentally, the communication with the always-connected party is not cut off until the computer power is turned off.

If there is no computer information with the attribute of always-on connection in the address information section 10, the connection is made on a request unit basis of the application program 19. The address information section 10 has information of the application to be connected until the application starts and ends as information for performing the connection in the request unit. Address information section 1
The operation when the application for which connection is set is started up until the application starts up and ends for 0 is to notify the interface unit 9 of the start up by the application program 19.

The interface unit 9 acquires an application name for which connection is set from the address information unit 10 at the time of activation until the application is activated and terminates.
If the application name is an application name registered in the address information unit 10 and the application program 19 is notified from the application program 19, it is notified that the application program to be connected in units of requests has been activated. Notify section 8.

When the communication control unit 8 is connected at the time of receiving the notification from the interface unit 9, the communication control unit 8 receives dial information from the interface unit 9 to the other party to be connected, and issues a dial instruction to the master unit 1 via the cable C. Base unit 1 establishes a connection with the communication partner, and notifies connection control unit 8 of the completion of the connection with the communication partner. Incidentally, the communication with the communication connection partner is not disconnected until the application program 19 ends.

Further, the connection operation under the control of the application program is controlled by the application program 19.
When a connection request is issued from the interface unit 9, the interface unit 9 is requested to provide a connection request instruction and the computer name of the connection partner. The interface unit 9 acquires dial information and address information from the computer name of the address information unit 10. The interface unit 9 notifies the communication control unit 8 that a connection request has been generated at the time when the dial information and the address information are obtained from the address information unit 10. That is, the interface unit 9 here
If there is information on a computer having the attribute of always-on connection, the dial information of the computer is acquired from the address information unit 10; if there is no information, the dial information corresponding to the designated computer name is obtained from the address information unit. 10 and transmitted to the communication control unit 8.

When the communication control unit 8 is connected at the time of receiving the notification from the interface unit 9, the communication control unit 8 receives dial information from the interface unit 9 to the connection partner, and issues a dial instruction to the master unit 1 via the cable C. . Base unit 1 establishes a connection with the communication partner, and notifies communication control unit 8 of the completion of the connection with the communication partner. When the communication is disconnected, a request for disconnection is sent to the interface unit 9. Interface section 9
Then, the communication control unit 8 is notified of the request for disconnection.
Therefore, the communication control unit 8 disconnects the communication when receiving the notification from the interface unit 9.

[0029]

As described above, according to the simplified wireless LAN system of the present invention, the master unit including the master unit and the slave units including the connection relationship between the slave units and the plurality of slave units are connected to the wireless LAN. A connection can be made between a specific computer and a communication target can be transmitted and received via a dialing connection based on the address information from a specific computer to another communication partner via either the parent device or the child device. And
The master unit is connected to the communication line, and the computer can send and receive communication data to and from a lower-level external computer connected via the communication line, and perform communication between the master unit and the slave unit. Since a router is not required for installation work and communication connection with lower-level external computers,
Labor saving in system construction and simplification of introduction of a new wireless LAN can be achieved, and communication connection with an external computer is facilitated. In particular, use for a low power cordless telephone is effective. In particular, in the computer, in addition to the address information in the address information section, the computer name, dial information of the master unit or a plurality of slave units to which the computer is connected, and whether to always connect or to connect in request units as attributes at the time of connection When there is information on a computer having the attribute of always connected by the interface unit, the dial information of the computer is obtained from the address information unit, and when there is no information, the information is added to the designated computer name. Since the corresponding dial information is obtained from the address information section and transmitted to the communication control section, even if the connection relationship between the computer and the master unit or a plurality of slave units is changed, the address information unit is changed. It is possible to flexibly deal with the problem simply by rewriting the information content.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a simplified wireless LAN system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main part configuration in a case where a base unit provided in the simplified wireless LAN system shown in FIG. 1 is used as a low-power cordless telephone.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Parent machine 3,5 Slave machine 2,4,6 Computer 7,11,15 Computer connection part 7a Communication line connection part 7b Computer signal conversion part 7c Modular connection part 8,12,16 Communication control part 9,13,17 Interface Part 10, 14, 18 Address information part 19, 20, 21 Application program

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference Table 9-505951 (JP, A) JP-A-9-233075 (JP, A) JP-A 9-135479 (JP, A) JP-A 9-130352 (JP) JP-A-9-18483 (JP, A) JP-A-8-101901 (JP, A) JP-A-8-46560 (JP, A) JP-A-7-307971 (JP, A) (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04L 12/28 H04B 7/26 JICST file (JOIS)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A computer is connected on a wireless local area network to a master unit and a plurality of slave units including a connection relationship between the master unit and a slave unit and each slave unit. The master unit and one of the plurality of slave units can connect to each other as a communication partner by dialing based on address information to transmit and receive communication data, and the master unit is connected to a communication line. Connected, the computer can transmit and receive the communication data with a lower-level external computer connected through the communication line. , The computer name, the dial information of the master unit or the plurality of slave units to which the computer is connected, and the connection information as the connection attribute. An address information section for storing correspondence with information on whether to connect or connect in a request unit, and a computer connection provided in each of the master unit and the plurality of slave units by converting the address information into the dial information If there is information on a computer having an attribute of constantly connecting with a communication control unit that performs communication control to a communication destination via a unit, and obtains dial information of the computer from the address information unit, there is no such information An interface unit for obtaining dial information corresponding to the designated computer name from the address information unit and transmitting the dial information to the communication control unit.