JP4596320B2 - Wireless network system, wireless terminal and operating method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless network system. In particular, the present invention relates to a wireless network system that exchanges network route information between wireless terminals and performs route control based on this information, a wireless terminal, and a method of operating the wireless network system.

  Conventionally, intermittent driving is performed in order to reduce power consumption in a wireless terminal. This is because the reception standby state in which the wireless signal waits for reception consumes more current than other processes. In this intermittent drive method, the operation of monitoring the presence / absence of a wireless signal for a short time and not waiting for reception of the wireless signal at other times is repeated at a constant end cycle. The intermittent drive method will be further described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 7 is a timing chart showing the operation timing of the intermittent drive operation of the wireless terminal. A radio that performs intermittent drive operation has two states, an idle state and a reception standby state. The idle state refers to a state in which a minimum necessary processing operation is performed so that power consumption becomes as small as possible. Here, the minimum necessary processing operation is an operation of monitoring processing of a communication interface between externally connected devices connected to a wireless device such as a data wireless terminal or a sensor. The reception standby state is a state in which the presence or absence of a desired radio signal is monitored. The idle state and the reception standby state are switched alternately. Here, when a wireless signal is detected in the reception standby state, the wireless reception process is further continued and the received data is analyzed.

  In the intermittent drive method, when the switching period in which the reception standby state and the idle state are switched is a period T, and the time in the reception standby state is a time T1, when the time T1 is made smaller than the period T, The time of the reception standby state in the entire operation time of the wireless terminal is shortened, and the power consumption of the wireless terminal is reduced.

  Next, a general wireless data structure in the case where data transmission is performed by performing this intermittent drive will be described. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a temporal configuration of wireless data. FIG. 9 is a timing chart illustrating a processing operation in which a wireless terminal in an intermittent driving operation detects a start signal and continues receiving processing to obtain data. As shown in FIG. 8, the wireless data is composed of a start signal and data to be transmitted. Here, the activation signal is a signal necessary for causing the wireless terminal performing the missing driving operation to detect the wireless signal, and needs to be a signal continuous for a time A longer than the intermittent driving cycle T. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, by adding a start signal longer than the intermittent drive period T to the transmission data, the radio signal can be reliably detected even in the intermittent drive. Then, the wireless terminal that has detected the activation signal can receive subsequent transmission data.

Patent Document 1 describes an ad hoc wireless network system.
JP 2000-13376

  When the intermittent driving method is applied to an ad hoc wireless network as disclosed in Patent Document 1, the following problems occur.

  In an ad hoc wireless network system, each wireless terminal included therein manages route information in the network (hereinafter referred to as “configuration information”), and therefore a presence notification packet that informs the existence of the own wireless terminal to the surroundings is constant. Each wireless terminal performs a process of updating configuration information (hereinafter referred to as “configuration control process”) by transmitting periodically and receiving presence notification packets from other wireless terminals.

  However, as described above, when communication is to be performed in the intermittent drive method, the activation signal must be added to the presence notification packet. In other words, when the intermittent drive method is applied in an ad hoc wireless network, each wireless terminal transmits an activation signal each time configuration control processing is performed, which increases wireless traffic in the network and lowers communication reliability. Resulting in.

  Similarly, when a wireless terminal wants to relay and transmit a data packet to another wireless terminal, an activation signal must be added to the data packet. Therefore, when the intermittent driving method is applied to an ad hoc wireless network, not only does the traffic increase in relay transmission, but also a transmission delay occurs, resulting in a deterioration in communication quality.

  In the present invention, each wireless terminal in the network does not voluntarily perform configuration control processing at a constant period. The configuration control process is performed by an explicit command from any of the plurality of wireless terminals. The present invention is realized as a wireless network system, as a wireless terminal, and as an operation method of the wireless network system.

  That is, in the present invention, a wireless network system including a plurality of wireless terminals including at least a first wireless terminal and a second wireless terminal, wherein the first wireless terminal performs configuration control processing for updating network route information. A configuration control activation command to be transmitted to other wireless terminals is broadcasted, and the second wireless terminal waits for reception from other wireless terminals including the first wireless terminal for the first period and waits for reception. If the configuration control activation command is received within the first period in the intermittent driving, the reception from other wireless terminals is waited for the second period longer than the first period. In the continuous standby state, the configuration control process is executed in response to the configuration control start command from the first wireless terminal to update the route information, and after the second period, the first wireless Waiting to receive the configuration control start command from the other wireless terminal including a end, and executes the following configuration control process, a wireless network system is provided.

  The first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal are arbitrary wireless terminals that can perform data communication. The modulation method and the band used for communication are not particularly limited. In addition, the present invention that has an effect of reducing power consumption is particularly effective for a wireless terminal that has power restrictions, such as a wireless terminal driven by a battery. A distinction between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal is that a wireless terminal that transmits a configuration control activation command is called a first wireless terminal, and a wireless terminal that receives the command and performs configuration control processing is called a second wireless terminal. Call.

  The configuration control process is a process of updating the route information of the network, and in the ad hoc wireless network, refers to a process in which a certain wireless terminal acquires information on wireless terminals that can communicate with each other as a route. For example, it generally refers to a process of exchanging information with surrounding wireless terminals that can communicate and acquiring a table of IDs that identify wireless terminals with which each wireless terminal can directly communicate. The configuration control activation command is a command for instructing another wireless terminal to perform configuration control processing.

  Broadcast transmission broadens transmission performed without designating a receiving wireless terminal. For this reason, if a plurality of receiving wireless terminals are within the receivable range, the same signal can be received and an operation according to the transmitted command can be performed.

  A state of waiting for reception (reception standby state) is a state in which the RF unit of the wireless terminal is configured so that the signal input from the antenna can be decoded at any time. The idle state is a state in which a signal input from the antenna to the RF unit of the wireless terminal cannot be decoded, but is placed on standby so that the wireless terminal immediately enters a reception standby state. The predetermined period of intermittent driving is, for example, a time in units of several milliseconds to several minutes.

  The continuous standby state refers to a state in which the reception standby state is maintained for a period (second period) longer than the period when the reception standby state is intermittently driven (first period). The second wireless terminal does not perform the configuration control process by itself, but waits to receive a configuration control activation command from another wireless terminal including the first wireless terminal, that is, a terminal other than the second wireless terminal. . The second wireless terminal receives the configuration control activation command after the second period and executes the next configuration control process.

  Further, in the present invention, a plurality of wireless communication units including a transmission / reception unit capable of performing transmission and reception with other wireless terminals wirelessly, and a control unit connected to the transmission / reception unit and capable of controlling the operation of the transmission / reception unit. A wireless terminal used for a wireless network system by a terminal, which is intermittently driven so as to repeat a state of waiting for reception only for a first period and an idle state after the elapse of the first period, and updates route information in the network When a configuration control activation command for performing the configuration control process is received, the control means configures the wireless terminal that executes the configuration control process in a continuous standby state for a second period longer than the first period. A wireless terminal is provided for controlling the transmitting / receiving means to broadcast the control activation command.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, there are provided a plurality of transmission / reception means capable of performing transmission and reception with other wireless terminals wirelessly, and a control means connected to the transmission / reception means and capable of controlling the operation of the transmission / reception means. A wireless terminal used in a wireless network system by a wireless terminal, wherein the control means controls the transmission / reception means to perform intermittent driving that repeats an operation of entering an idle state after elapse of the first period after waiting for reception for the first period. When a configuration control activation command for performing configuration control processing for updating network route information is received from another wireless terminal via the transmission / reception means within the first period in which the transmission / reception means is intermittently driven, The system continuously waits for reception from another wireless terminal for a second period longer than one period, and executes configuration control processing according to the configuration control activation command to update path information. The transmission / reception means is controlled, and after the second period, the transmission / reception means is controlled to wait for reception of a configuration control activation command from another wireless terminal and further execute the next configuration control processing. A wireless terminal is provided.

  According to the present invention, there is provided a method for operating a wireless network system including a plurality of wireless terminals including at least a first wireless terminal and a second wireless terminal, wherein reception from other wireless terminals including the first wireless terminal is a first. An intermittent drive step in which the second wireless terminal repeats a sub-step of waiting for a period of time and a sub-step of entering an idle state in which reception is not waited after elapse of the first period; When the second wireless terminal receives the configuration control activation command during the first period of the step in which the first wireless terminal broadcasts the configuration control activation command to be performed by the terminal and the intermittent drive step, it is longer than the first period. During the second period, the second wireless terminal enters a continuous standby state waiting for reception from another wireless terminal, and the second wireless terminal responds to the configuration control activation command. A configuration control execution step of executing configuration control processing to update route information, and then waiting for further reception of a configuration control activation command from other wireless terminals including the first wireless terminal after the second period has passed. Thus, there is provided an operation method including a configuration control execution step in which the second wireless terminal executes the following configuration control processing.

  With the configuration of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the power of the wireless terminal from increasing even when the intermittent drive method is applied to an ad hoc wireless network. That is, by adopting the configuration of the present invention, in order to temporarily stop the intermittent drive, it is possible to perform communication processing after the reception standby state is continued, and the wireless traffic is suppressed and the reliability is reduced. High communication is possible.

Hereinafter, embodiments of an intermittent drive method and a communication control method in an ad hoc wireless network will be described with reference to the drawings.
First, an ad hoc wireless network targeted by the present invention will be described. In an ad hoc wireless network, a wireless network system includes a plurality of wireless terminals that perform wireless data communication. All of these wireless terminals are configured to be able to perform relay communication directly or via one or more other wireless terminals. Also, in an ad hoc wireless network, when data packets are relayed and transmitted, the configuration information managed by each wireless terminal is used, and by performing path control independently, a terminal capable of direct communication in the wireless network is provided. Each wireless terminal can have.

  With reference to FIG. 1, the structure of the radio | wireless terminal in embodiment of this invention is demonstrated. FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing configurations of a first radio terminal 10 and a second radio terminal 20 used in the present invention. These wireless terminals include a transmission / reception unit 2 having an antenna 2a, a control unit 4, and a storage unit 6. The transmission / reception unit 2 is functionally composed of a wireless transmission unit and a wireless reception unit. The control unit 4 includes a central control unit including a processor, a memory used for the processing, and a time measurement unit that generates timing and clocks. The storage unit 6 includes a plurality of storage elements that can be logically identified. The communication modulation method, control method, coding method, and the like are not particularly limited in the present invention. For example, a packet communication method in which communication is performed using packets can be used. In the present invention, a first wireless terminal and a second wireless terminal are used. The first wireless terminal is the wireless terminal 101 in FIG. 2 to be described later, and the second wireless terminal is the wireless terminals 102, 103, 104 in FIG.

  Various methods for managing configuration information in ad hoc wireless networks and other wireless networks have been proposed. In a typical example, when each wireless terminal performs routing control according to universal configuration information once determined, the configuration information is displayed when the information needs to be changed due to changes in the surrounding environment. There is a problem that it is not updated. Therefore, especially in an ad hoc wireless network in which the characteristics of the communication channel are easily affected by changes in the surrounding environment, each wireless terminal periodically updates the configuration information, which is one of other typical configuration information management methods. The method is considered more appropriate. Accordingly, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, configuration control is performed so that presence notification packets that inform the surroundings of the presence of the own wireless terminal are transmitted at regular intervals, and configuration information is updated by receiving these packets. Assuming the case where processing is performed, the form of the conventional ad hoc wireless network will be described, and then the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an aspect of transmission of configuration information between wireless terminals in a conventional ad hoc wireless network system 500. In FIG. 10, the wireless terminal 501 transmits a presence notification packet. This presence notification packet can be received only within an arrival area determined by communication conditions such as transmission power, reception sensitivity, and presence / absence of an obstacle. When the wireless terminals 502, 503, and 504 in the arrival area 521 receive the presence notification packet from the wireless terminal 501, the wireless terminals 502, 503, and 504 determine that communication with the wireless terminal 501 is possible. The wireless terminals 507 and 512 also independently transmit presence notification packets, and the wireless terminals 508, 509, and 510 in the arrival area 527 of the presence notification packet from the wireless terminal 507 can communicate with the wireless terminal 507. The wireless terminals 510 and 513 in the arrival area 532 of the presence notification packet from the wireless terminal 512 determine that communication with the wireless terminal 512 is possible. Each wireless terminal performs configuration control processing based on route information based on these presence packets. In this configuration control process, the wireless terminals 501, 507, and 512 transmit presence notification packets at a constant cycle. For this reason, in this configuration control process, it is possible to always obtain optimal configuration information reflecting the latest surrounding environment.

  FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the state of communication traffic when conventional intermittent driving is applied to the ad hoc wireless network system 500. As described above, the ad hoc wireless network system 500 periodically updates the configuration information. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, even when intermittent driving is applied to an ad hoc wireless network, in the ad hoc wireless network system 500, the configuration information is periodically updated. In order to realize this, each wireless terminal of the conventional ad hoc wireless network system 500 performs configuration control processing by transmitting and receiving presence notification packets at a constant period. When intermittent driving is applied to the ad hoc wireless network system 500 that performs this operation, the activation signal as shown in FIG. 8 must be added to the presence notification packet. Therefore, the wireless traffic in the network when the presence notification packet is transmitted is significantly increased as compared with the case where intermittent driving is not used. Therefore, in the ad hoc wireless network system 500 of FIG. 11, when relay transmission communication is performed by the route of, for example, the wireless terminal 506, the wireless terminal 505, and the wireless terminal 507, the wireless communication is performed for the relay transmission communication. The probability that a presence notification packet from the terminal 501 causes interference in the wireless terminal 502 is increased, and communication reliability is deteriorated.

  In addition, when relaying transmission data, a problem of communication delay is expected to occur. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a communication path when a wireless terminal 506 and a wireless terminal 507 that cannot directly communicate with each other by relay transmission via a plurality of wireless terminals 505, 502, and 508 communicate with each other. 13 is a timing chart showing the relay timing of the wireless terminal 506 or the like when relay communication is performed in the conventional ad hoc wireless network system, and FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating relay communication by applying intermittent driving in the conventional ad hoc wireless network system. It is a timing chart which shows the relay timing of the radio | wireless terminal 506 etc. in the case of performing. Here, as shown in FIG. 12, it is assumed that the wireless terminal 506 sends transmission data to the wireless terminal 509 via other wireless terminals (wireless terminals 505, 502, 508, and 507). Yes. As shown in FIG. 14, when conventional intermittent driving is applied in the ad hoc wireless network system 500, there is a start signal for intermittent driving, so relay communication that does not perform intermittent driving shown in FIG. 13 is performed. Compared with the transmission timing in FIG. 2, an activation signal is added each time relaying, and transmission delay is greatly increased.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned problem when the intermittent drive method is applied to an ad hoc wireless network is solved by the following method.
In the embodiment of the present invention, each wireless terminal in the network does not voluntarily perform configuration control processing at a constant period. In the ad hoc wireless network system according to the embodiment of the present invention, a specific wireless terminal (first wireless terminal) in the network performs relay communication processing on another wireless terminal (second wireless terminal) in the network. A relay communication start command (for example, a polling signal) to be transmitted is transmitted to an unspecified wireless terminal by broadcast communication. Then, the other wireless terminal that has received the relay communication activation command interrupts the intermittent driving so far and enters a reception standby state (continuous standby state) for a certain period of time. Then, using the continuous standby state period, the network system performs data communication processing (relay communication processing) for relaying a plurality of wireless terminals. Further, prior to the relay communication process, a configuration control process for receiving a configuration control activation command from a specific wireless terminal and acquiring path information can be executed.

  Here, the specific wireless terminal is determined in advance as a wireless terminal for controlling the configuration control process in the relay communication process, or when a certain wireless terminal is connected from an external device connected to the wireless terminal. There may be a case of functioning as a specific wireless terminal according to an instruction. Which of these is used can be appropriately determined so as to be suitable for an application to which the wireless network system of the present embodiment is applied. As a polling signal or relay communication method in broadcast communication, for example, a flooding method is applied, or a broadcast communication method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-8591 already filed by the applicant is applied. Is possible. Here, the flooding method is a process in which, when another wireless terminal receives a configuration control start command broadcast from a specific wireless terminal, the received wireless terminal further broadcasts the same configuration control start command. Thereby, the configuration control activation command is distributed to the wireless communication wireless terminals in the network. Further, the invention of the above application is provided with a table (route maintenance table) for managing configuration information, and a wireless terminal refers to the route maintenance table and communicates with its surrounding wireless terminals. Is used for relay communication. For example, in the initial state where configuration information has not yet been obtained, once the configuration information is obtained after applying the flooding method, it is used in combination so as to refer to the configuration information table of the above application. You can also.

  Here, when the wireless terminal is intermittently driven, it is in a reception standby state only for a predetermined period (first period), and is in an idle state during other periods. The continuous standby state is maintained for a longer period (second period) than the first period, and then returns to the intermittent drive state again. At this time, in order for all the wireless terminals belonging to this wireless network to be in the continuous standby state, it is necessary to shift the intermittently driven wireless terminals to the continuous standby state. There is a need. Therefore, it takes a certain time for all wireless terminals to enter the continuous standby state. Therefore, even if there is this time lag, the second period can be set so that all the wireless terminals can be in a continuous standby state at the same time. This second period is stored, for example, in the storage unit of each wireless terminal that performs configuration control processing, or a wireless terminal that transmits a configuration control activation command broadcasts together with the command, and each It may be determined by the wireless terminal. In this case, there is an effect that an appropriate second period is set according to the situation.

  2 to 5 are explanatory diagrams illustrating changes in the state of each wireless terminal in the ad hoc wireless network system 100 according to the present embodiment that employs the flooding method as broadcast communication. Each wireless terminal is indicated by a square symbol when intermittently driven, and is indicated by a round symbol when in a continuous standby state. Here, the specific wireless terminal (first wireless terminal) is the wireless terminal 101. When the wireless terminal 101 broadcasts a start command for relay communication processing (FIG. 2), other wireless terminals (wireless terminals 102, 103, 104, second wireless) that are within the packet arrival range 121 and have actually received the packet. The terminal stops the intermittent drive and shifts to a continuous standby state (FIG. 3). Next, these wireless terminals further perform broadcast communication, and the wireless terminals (wireless terminals 105, 106, 108, 110, 111) that have actually received the packets in the reach range 122, 123, 124 of those packets are Then, the intermittent drive is interrupted to shift to a continuous standby state (FIG. 4). In this way, all wireless terminals in the network interrupt intermittent driving and shift to a continuous standby state (FIG. 5).

  In this way, a specific wireless terminal performs control and shifts each wireless terminal in the network to a continuous standby state, so that an activation signal for each communication required when intermittent driving is simply used in an ad hoc wireless network system. Becomes unnecessary, and configuration control processing and relay communication processing in a state in which wireless traffic is suppressed can be performed.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, relay communication processing or configuration control processing is performed, relay communication is performed or configuration information is updated, and then the intermittent drive state is restored. Here, as the timing of returning to the intermittent drive state again, a mode in which data of the period is stored in each wireless terminal so as to transition from the configuration control state to the intermittent drive state after a lapse of a certain time in advance, or this configuration control. In this activation command packet, information for designating a time for interrupting intermittent driving is incorporated, and a wireless terminal that receives this information interrupts intermittent driving during this time and performs configuration control processing. For these, an optimum mode can be adopted by an application to which the present embodiment is applied.

  Similarly, when a wireless terminal in the network relays and transmits a data packet to other wireless terminals in the network, the wireless terminal that starts transmission first issues a relay communication start command to all other wireless terminals in the network. To the wireless terminal by broadcast communication. Next, other wireless terminals that have received the activation command interrupt intermittent driving and shift to a reception standby state. In this state, the intended relay transmission is performed. In this case, the wireless terminal that starts transmission becomes the first wireless terminal, and another wireless terminal (such as another wireless terminal in the packet arrival area) that can receive the broadcast transmission of the first wireless terminal is the second wireless terminal. It becomes.

  In addition, before relay transmission, in order to obtain the route information of the network at that time and perform relay transmission appropriately, for example, a wireless terminal that starts transmission broadcasts a relay communication start command together with a configuration control start command. May be. Accordingly, each wireless terminal can execute the relay communication process based on the latest route information. In addition, since the configuration control start command and the relay communication start command can be transmitted simultaneously or substantially simultaneously, it is possible to continuously wait for other wireless terminals that are intermittently driven as compared to transmitting these commands separately. The overhead for making it shorter.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 6, the operation of the wireless terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 is a timing chart showing the operation of the wireless terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention. The operations of the wireless terminal 101, the wireless terminal 104, and the wireless terminal 111 are illustrated in FIGS. The wireless terminal 101 operates as a first wireless terminal, and the wireless terminals 104 and 111 operate as second wireless terminals. FIG. 6 is roughly divided into a first half configuration control processing stage and a second half relay communication processing stage.

  First, at the stage of the configuration control process, the wireless terminal 104 in the packet arrival area 103 (FIG. 2) of the wireless terminal 101 is initially intermittently driven. At this time, the wireless terminal 111 is also intermittently driven. Then, the wireless terminal 101 transmits a configuration control start command 52. This is the same as the situation of FIG. The configuration control activation command 52 is added with a signal similar to the activation signal (FIG. 8), for example, so that it can be received at the timing of the reception standby state of the intermittently driven wireless terminal. The signal is longer than the period T.

  When the wireless terminal 104 receives the configuration control activation signal 52, the wireless terminal 104 enters a continuous standby state. The wireless terminal 104 also transmits a configuration control activation signal 54. The wireless terminal 111 outside the packet arrival area of the wireless terminal 101 receives the configuration control activation signal 54 from the wireless terminal 104 and enters a continuous standby state. This is the same as the situation shown in FIG. Note that, for example, when the wireless terminal 104 receives the configuration control activation signal 52 from another wireless terminal when the previous state is the intermittent drive state, the wireless terminal 104 also transmits the configuration control activation signal 54 accordingly. When the immediately preceding state is the continuous standby state, the configuration control activation signal 54 may not be transmitted even if the configuration control activation signal 52 is received from another wireless terminal. Then, the wireless terminals 101 and 104 capable of direct communication exchange the packet 62 for setting route information, and the wireless terminals 104 and 111 capable of direct communication exchange the packet 64 for setting route information. Thereby, it is possible to obtain route information that the wireless terminal 101 and the wireless terminal 104 can communicate with each other, and the wireless terminal 104 further obtains updated route information that the wireless terminal 111 can communicate with the wireless terminal 111, Configuration control processing can be performed.

  Here, the wireless terminal 104 performs the configuration control processing next when it receives a configuration control activation command from another wireless terminal. Here, the wireless terminals that transmit the configuration control activation command are not limited to the case where they are always the same wireless terminal.

  Next, the steps of relay communication processing will be described. In the present invention, the relay communication activation command is transmitted / received when the second wireless terminal is in a continuous standby state and is transmitted / received when the second wireless terminal is intermittently driven. is there. When the second wireless terminal receives the relay communication start command while in the continuous standby state, the second wireless terminal operates to relay the data packet in the continuous standby state. The relay operation in this case is an operation of transmitting a packet received from a certain radio device to another radio device instead of exchanging packets in exchanging route information. At this time, the continuous standby state is maintained so as not to be in the intermittent drive state. On the other hand, when the second wireless terminal is intermittently driven, a continuous activation command is added to the relay communication activation command and transmitted. This is a view necessary for the second wireless terminal to change from the intermittent drive state to the continuous standby state. As a result, the second wireless terminal enters a continuous standby state, and thereafter transfers the data packet to be relayed. FIG. 6 shows a case where the second wireless terminal that is intermittently driven receives the relay communication activation command 72 following the continuous activation command 72a. When the relay communication activation command 72 is transmitted from the wireless terminal 101 and the wireless terminal 104 receives the relay communication activation command 72, the wireless terminal 104 enters a continuous standby state as in the case of receiving the continuous activation command 72a. The wireless terminal 104 further transmits a relay communication activation command 74 having a continuous activation command 74a, and the wireless terminal 111 enters a continuous standby state when receiving this. The data packet 82 to be relayed is transmitted from the wireless terminal 101 to the wireless terminal 104 as a data packet 84 transmitted from the wireless terminal 101 to the wireless terminal 104 and having the same data content. Here, the relay communication does not necessarily have to be performed with the first wireless terminal (wireless terminal 101) that transmits the configuration control activation command as a starting point, and any of a plurality of wireless terminals included in the network may be used. It may be done from.

  Further, the timing of updating the route information will be described with reference to FIG. After the configuration control is performed at least once, the configuration control process need not be performed again when the configuration of the wireless terminal in the network and the wireless communication environment do not change and the same route information can be used. Therefore, after the configuration control process is performed once, even if the wireless terminal enters the continuous standby state only for a certain period T2 (second period) and then enters the intermittent drive state again, the next relay communication or the like is performed. It is not always necessary to perform configuration control processing. Therefore, after the configuration control is performed once, the next configuration control can be performed after a predetermined period (third period T3) longer than the second period has elapsed. The third period T3 is appropriately determined according to the application in which the wireless network system of the present embodiment is used, particularly how often the combination of wireless terminals in the network and the wireless communication environment change. Can do. For example, the time from when the wireless terminal 101 first issues a configuration control activation command to the time when a wireless terminal (for example, the wireless terminal 104 in FIG. 6) that is in an intermittent driving state among other wireless terminals is in an intermittent driving state. can do. For this reason, for example, the wireless terminal (first wireless terminal) that broadcasts the configuration control activation command is configured to transmit the next configuration control activation command after the third period T3 or more, or the configuration control The wireless terminal (second wireless terminal) that has executed the process may be configured to receive the configuration control activation command and execute the next configuration control process.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications, changes and combinations can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention. is there.

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing configurations of a first radio terminal 10 and a second radio terminal 20 used in the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state change of each wireless terminal in the ad hoc wireless network system 100 according to the present embodiment adopting the flooding method as the broadcast communication. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of the ad hoc wireless network system at the next stage of FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of the ad hoc wireless network system at the next stage of FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of the ad hoc wireless network system at the next stage of FIG. FIG. 6 is a timing chart showing the operation of the wireless terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a timing chart showing the operation timing of the intermittent drive operation of the wireless terminal. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a temporal configuration of wireless data. FIG. 9 is a timing chart illustrating a processing operation in which a wireless terminal in an intermittent driving operation detects a start signal and continues receiving processing to obtain data. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an aspect of transmission of configuration information between wireless terminals in a conventional ad hoc wireless network system 500. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the state of communication traffic when conventional intermittent driving is applied to the ad hoc wireless network system 500. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a communication path when two wireless terminals that cannot be directly communicated with each other by relay transmission via a plurality of wireless terminals. FIG. 13 is a timing chart showing the relay timing of a wireless terminal when relay communication is performed in a conventional ad hoc wireless network system. FIG. 14 is a timing chart showing the relay timing of a wireless terminal when relay communication is performed using intermittent drive in a conventional ad hoc wireless network system.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 1st radio | wireless terminal 20 2nd radio | wireless terminal 52, 54 Configuration control starting command 62, 64 Packet 72, 74 Relay communication starting command 82, 84 Data packet 101-105, 111 Wireless terminal 121, 122 Reaching range 500 Ad hoc wireless network system 501 to 510, 512 Wireless terminals 521, 527, 532 Reaching area T Intermittent drive cycle T1 First period T2 Second period T3 Third period

Claims (9)

A wireless network system comprising a plurality of wireless terminals including at least a first wireless terminal and a second wireless terminal,
The first wireless terminal broadcasts a configuration control activation command that causes another wireless terminal to perform configuration control processing for updating network route information.
The second wireless terminal is intermittently driven to repeat a state of waiting for a first period of reception from other wireless terminals including the first wireless terminal and an idle state of not waiting for reception, and the second wireless terminal If the configuration control activation command is received within one period, the first wireless terminal enters a continuous standby state waiting for reception from another wireless terminal for a second period longer than the first period. The configuration control processing is executed in accordance with the configuration control activation command from the network to update the route information, and the configuration control activation command is received from other wireless terminals including the first wireless terminal after the second period has elapsed. A wireless network system that waits for and executes the next configuration control processing. Any one of the plurality of wireless terminals broadcasts a relay communication start command that causes another wireless terminal to perform relay communication processing within the second period, and transmits a data packet to be relayed. ,
When the second wireless terminal receives the relay communication activation command after executing the configuration control processing, the second wireless terminal performs relay communication processing of the data packet according to path information while maintaining the continuous standby state. The wireless network system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless network system executes at least one of them.   The first wireless terminal broadcast-transmits a next configuration control start command after a third period longer than the second period has elapsed since the configuration control start command was broadcast. The wireless network system according to 1.   2. The second wireless terminal further broadcasts a configuration control activation command to be performed by the wireless terminal that has received the configuration control processing for updating route information after receiving the configuration control activation command. The wireless network system according to 2.   The second wireless terminal stores updated route information in a route maintenance table, and determines an adjacent wireless terminal to communicate based on the route maintenance table when the relay communication process is executed. The wireless network system according to claim 4, wherein The first wireless terminal broadcasts a period setting command for setting the second period together with the configuration control activation command,
The wireless network system according to claim 1, wherein the second wireless terminal determines the second period by the period setting command. A transmission / reception means capable of performing transmission and reception with other wireless terminals wirelessly;
A wireless terminal used in a wireless network system comprising a plurality of wireless terminals, comprising: a control means connected to the transmitting / receiving means and capable of controlling the operation of the transmitting / receiving means;
Configuration control start command for performing configuration control processing that is intermittently driven so as to repeat the state of waiting for reception only for the first period and the idle state after the elapse of the first period, and updating path information in the network So that the control means broadcasts the configuration control activation command to a wireless terminal that is in a continuous standby state for a second period longer than the first period and executes the configuration control process. A wireless terminal for controlling the transmission / reception means. A transmission / reception means capable of performing transmission and reception with other wireless terminals wirelessly;
A wireless terminal used in a wireless network system comprising a plurality of wireless terminals, comprising: a control means connected to the transmitting / receiving means and capable of controlling the operation of the transmitting / receiving means;
The control means controls the transmission / reception means so as to perform intermittent driving to repeat reception of an idle state after the elapse of the first period after waiting for reception for the first period, and the transmission / reception means is intermittently driven. When a configuration control activation command for performing configuration control processing for updating network route information is received from the other wireless terminal via the transmission / reception means within the first period, the second longer than the first period Continuously waiting for reception from other wireless terminals during the period of time, controlling the transmission / reception means to update the path information by executing the configuration control process according to the configuration control activation command, A wireless terminal that waits for reception of a configuration control activation command from another wireless terminal after a period of time elapses and controls the transmission / reception means to further execute the next configuration control processing. An operation method of a wireless network system comprising a plurality of wireless terminals including at least a first wireless terminal and a second wireless terminal,
Substeps of waiting for reception from other wireless terminals including the first wireless terminal for a first period, and substeps of entering an idle state that does not wait for reception after elapse of the first period Intermittent driving step that repeats,
A step in which the first wireless terminal broadcasts a configuration control start command for causing another wireless terminal to perform configuration control processing for updating route information; and
When the second wireless terminal receives the configuration control activation command during the first period of the intermittent driving step, the second wireless terminal receives another time during a second period longer than the first period. A step of entering a continuous standby state waiting for reception from the wireless terminal;
A configuration control execution step in which the second wireless terminal executes configuration control processing in accordance with the configuration control start command and updates path information;
Next, after the second period has elapsed, the second wireless terminal executes the next configuration control process after waiting for further reception of a configuration control activation command from other wireless terminals including the first wireless terminal An operation method comprising: a configuration control execution step.

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