JP5074177B2 - Base station equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a base station apparatus and a terminal apparatus that distribute contents and receive the contents.

In recent years, content distribution using a wireless local area network (LAN) has become widespread. In accordance with the speeding up of the wireless LAN, a moving image distribution service has been put into practical use.
In the wireless LAN system, in order for the terminal device to recognize whether or not the content desired to be received by the terminal device side is distributed from the base station device, it is necessary to acquire information on the service provided by the base station device. For this purpose, the terminal device must first establish a connection with the base station device and then request information from the base station device. That is, information cannot be acquired unless connected to the base station apparatus. At this time, if the base station device does not distribute the content that the terminal device side wants to receive, the terminal device does not need to hold a connection with the base station device, and thus performs a disconnection process.

Patent Document 1 discloses an information distribution system, which includes an information type name of information that a wireless LAN terminal desires to distribute information, a network identifier notified by an access point, and a host name of an information distribution server. It has a predetermined correspondence.
JP 2007-5892 A

  As described above, in order to check the service provided by the base station device, the terminal device needs to periodically connect to the base station device and acquire information on the service, such as whether the content has been updated. is there. However, this connection process is wasted if there is no change in the service provided by the base station apparatus.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a base station apparatus and a terminal apparatus that can suppress useless connection processing.

  A base station apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention is managed by a content transmission unit that distributes content, an update information management unit that manages update information regarding updates of content distributed by the content transmission unit, and an update information management unit An identifier generation unit that generates a notification identifier including update information, and a beacon transmission unit that transmits the notification identifier generated by the identifier generation unit as a beacon.

  It should be noted that any combination of the above-described constituent elements and a conversion of the expression of the present invention between a method, an apparatus, a system, a recording medium, a computer program, and the like are also effective as an aspect of the present invention.

  According to the present invention, useless connection processing can be suppressed.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a communication system 100 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The communication system 100 includes a base station device 10 and a terminal device 20. The base station device 10 is an access point that constitutes a wireless LAN, and distributes content that can be received and played back by the terminal device 20. This distribution may be multicast distribution or unicast distribution. The content can include at least one of text, still images, moving images, audio, metadata, and the like. In the following description, it is assumed that the base station apparatus 10 is installed in a commercial store such as a convenience store and multicasts content to the store and in the vicinity thereof. For example, advertisement videos and coupons are distributed as content.

  Although the base station apparatus 10 distributes content, the content to be distributed may be changed. The base station apparatus 10 sets a connection identifier and a notification identifier, and transmits them as a beacon. As these identifiers, SSID (Service Set Identifier) can be used. The connection identifier is an identifier for connecting the base station device 10 and the terminal device 20. The notification identifier is an identifier for notification from the base station device 10 to the terminal device 20 including information on the update status of the content to be distributed (hereinafter referred to as update information). Details of the update information will be described later.

  The terminal device 20 is a terminal that can connect to the base station device 10 to receive and reproduce the content. A mobile phone, a smartphone, a notebook PC, a dedicated terminal, and the like may be applicable. The terminal device 20 is disconnected from the base station device 10 when the content required by the terminal device 20 is not distributed. The terminal device 20 periodically receives the notification identifier transmitted from the base station device 10, and determines whether or not a connection is necessary based on the update information included in the notification identifier. Thereby, the terminal device 20 does not need to make a useless connection and can reduce power consumption. In the second embodiment to be described later, the notification identifier transmitted from the base station apparatus 10 is received not at regular intervals but at a timing.

Hereinafter, the configurations of the base station apparatus 10 and the terminal apparatus 20 will be described more specifically.
The base station apparatus 10 includes a content storage unit 11, a content transmission unit 12, a distribution control unit 13, an update information management unit 14, an identifier generation unit 16, a beacon transmission unit 17, and a connection processing unit 18.
The terminal device 20 includes a content receiving unit 21, a content processing unit 22, an update information processing unit 24, a beacon receiving unit 25, a connection processing unit 26, and an update information storage unit 27.

  Each configuration of the base station device 10 and the terminal device 20 can be realized in hardware by a CPU, memory, or other LSI of an arbitrary computer, and is realized in software by a program loaded in the memory. Here, however, the functional blocks realized by the cooperation are depicted. Therefore, those skilled in the art will understand that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by hardware only, software only, or a combination thereof.

First, each component of the base station apparatus 10 will be described.
The content storage unit 11 holds content distributed by the base station device 10. The content held in the content storage unit 11 may be acquired from another device via a network, or may be acquired from a predetermined storage medium (not shown). The content held in the content storage unit 11 is distributed by the content transmission unit 12.
The content transmission unit 12 distributes the content held by the content storage unit 11 based on an instruction from the distribution control unit 13.

The distribution control unit 13 determines content to be distributed from the content transmission unit 12. The distribution control unit 13 determines content to be distributed based on the distribution schedule information.
Here, the distribution schedule information is information indicating a schedule of content distributed from the content transmission unit 12. The distribution schedule information includes a stream ID, address information, distribution time, and content information. The stream ID is identification information for identifying content distribution. The address information is information necessary for receiving the content. The distribution time includes a distribution start time and a distribution end time. The content information includes a content ID and a content name.

  When the distribution start time or the distribution end time indicated in the distribution schedule information is reached, the distribution control unit 13 instructs the content transmission unit 12 to start or end the distribution content according to the content. At the same time, the update information held in the update information management unit 14 is updated.

Further, the distribution control unit 13 can determine the content to be distributed based on the change instruction information instead of the distribution schedule information.
Here, the change instruction information is information generated when an instruction to change the content being distributed is given from the operation unit. The change time is removed from the change schedule information.

  When the change instruction information is generated, the distribution control unit 13 instructs the content transmission unit 12 to change the distribution content according to the content. At the same time, the update information held in the update information management unit 14 is updated.

  The update information management unit 14 manages update information. The update information is updated according to changes in the content distributed by the content transmission unit 12. The update information may include a version, and the version may be the number of times the distribution content has been changed. The version is incremented by 1 each time the distribution content is updated, and returns to 1 when it overflows. May be. The update information held by the update information management unit 14 is updated by the distribution control unit 13 and referred to by the identifier generation unit 16.

  The identifier generation unit 16 generates a notification identifier including update information managed by the update information management unit 14. Specifically, a notification identifier is generated by associating update information held by the update information management unit 14 with identification information for identifying content distribution. The generated notification identifier is sent to the beacon transmission unit 17 and transmitted as a beacon.

  The beacon transmission unit 17 transmits the notification identifier generated by the identifier generation unit 16 as a beacon. Further, the connection identifier may be transmitted as a beacon. The transmitted beacon is received by the terminal device 20.

  The connection processing unit 18 performs connection processing with the terminal device 20 in response to a connection request from the terminal device 20. Specifically, the connection with the terminal device 20 that has requested connection by notifying the connection identifier is established. The connection request from the terminal device 20 that has not been notified of the connection identifier is rejected, and the connection process with the terminal device 20 is not performed. That is, the connection request using the notification identifier generated by the identifier generation unit 16 is rejected, and the connection request using the preset connection identifier different from the notification identifier is permitted.

  Note that the base station apparatus 10 can simultaneously distribute a plurality of different contents. That is, the content transmission unit 12 performs a plurality of content distributions in parallel. At this time, the update information is set for each content distribution. The update information management unit 14 manages the identification information for identifying each content distribution in association with the corresponding update information. The identifier generating unit 16 generates a notification identifier by associating a plurality of pieces of identification information with update information corresponding to the pieces of identification information. The beacon transmission unit 17 transmits it as a beacon.

Next, each component of the terminal device 20 will be described.
The content receiving unit 21 receives content distributed from the base station device 10. The received content is sent to the content processing unit 22.

The content processing unit 22 reproduces the content received by the content receiving unit 21.
The beacon receiving unit 25 receives a beacon transmitted from the base station device 10. The notification identifier included in the beacon is output to the update information processing unit 24. Further, when the connection identifier is included in the beacon, the beacon is output to the connection processing unit 26. The connection identifier is not limited to the example set in the connection processing unit 26 through such a process, and may be set by the following method. That is, it may be set when downloading an application for reproducing the content to be distributed, may be manually input by the user, or may be set by other methods.

  The update information processing unit 24 acquires update information from the notification identifier received by the beacon receiving unit 25. Then, the acquired update information is compared with the update information held by the update information storage unit 27, and it is determined whether there is an updated stream. Specifically, when the update information of the stream to be received by the terminal device 20 held in the update information storage unit 27 is compared with the update information corresponding to the stream included in the notification identifier, and they do not match The connection processing unit 26 is requested to connect to the base station apparatus 10. When a plurality of streams are distributed and update information corresponding to the plurality of streams is notified to the notification identifier, the update information stored in the update information storage unit 27, that is, should be received and reproduced. Only when there is a change in the update information regarding the stream, the connection processing unit 26 is requested to connect to the base station apparatus 10, and even when there is a change in the update information regarding other streams, no connection is requested.

  The update information storage unit 27 holds update information. This update information is basically the same as the update information held by the update information management unit 14 of the base station apparatus 10, but here, only the update information related to the stream to be received and reproduced by the terminal apparatus 20 is held. . The update information is referred to by the update information processing unit 24.

  The connection processing unit 26 makes a connection request to the base station apparatus 10 in response to a request from the update information processing unit 24. The connection request requires the connection identifier.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of update information transmitted to the terminal device 20 included in the connection identifier according to the first embodiment.
The identifier generation unit 16 generates the notification SSID “Version_01: 023_02: 013_03: 008” based on the update information of the three channels shown in FIG. The first “Version” indicates that this notification SSID is a notification regarding update information. The next "01: 023" indicates that the channel is 1ch and the version, that is, the number of updates is 23. “02: 013” indicates that the channel is 2ch and the version is 13th edition, and “03: 008” indicates that the channel is 3 and the version is 8th edition. Here, a channel is assigned to each stream.

  The update information processing unit 24 compares the version included in the previously received connection SSID with the version included in the currently received connection SSID, and if it has increased, the content distributed from the base station apparatus 10 Can be determined to be updated.

Next, the operation of the communication system 100 according to Embodiment 1 will be described.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart schematically showing the operation of base station apparatus 10 according to Embodiment 1.
The distribution control unit 13 determines whether there is a change in the content to be distributed from the content transmission unit 12 (S10). If there is a change in the content (Y in S10), the update information held by the update information management unit 14 is updated (S11). If there is no change in the content (N in S10), step S11 is skipped.

The identifier generation unit 16 generates a notification identifier based on the update information held by the update information management unit 14 (S12). The beacon transmission unit 17 transmits the generated notification identifier as a beacon (S13). These processes are repeated after the transition to step S10 until the distribution ends (Y in S14).
In addition, the base station device 10 executes connection identifier transmission, content distribution, connection processing with the terminal device 20, and the like, but description of these processing is omitted here.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart schematically showing the operation of the terminal device 20 according to the first embodiment.
The beacon receiving unit 25 receives the notification identifier included in the beacon (S20). The update information processing unit 24 acquires update information included in the notification identifier (S21).
Then, the update information processing unit 24 compares the update information included in the notification identifier with the update information held by the update information storage unit 27, and determines whether or not the content of the channel to be received has been updated. (S22). Specifically, it is determined whether there is a difference between the versions of both update information. When not updated (N of S22), the process of step S23-S25 is skipped and it changes to step S26. If updated (Y in S22), the update information stored in the update information storage unit 27 is updated to the received update information (S23).

  The connection processing unit 26 notifies the connection identifier to the base station apparatus 10 and establishes a connection with the base station apparatus 10 (S24). The content receiving unit 21 receives content distributed from the base station device 10. Thereafter, when the connection is disconnected (Y in S25), the process proceeds to step S26. In step S26, it is determined whether or not all the processes are to be ended (S26). If the process is not to be ended (N in S26), the processes from step S20 are repeated.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the terminal device 20 determines whether the content provided by the base station device 10 has been updated without establishing a connection with the base station device 10. Therefore, useless connection processing from the terminal device 20 to the base station device 10 can be suppressed. That is, the terminal device 20 can connect to the base station device 10 only when the distribution content is updated.

  Further, the base station device 10 rejects the connection request using the notification identifier from the terminal device 20, and permits only the connection request using the connection identifier that is not transmitted, thereby making the communication system 100 incompatible. Access from the terminal device can be restricted. Thus, it is possible to easily realize a paid service and a member service.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a communication system 100 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The communication system 100 according to the second embodiment has the same basic configuration and basic operation as the communication system 100 according to the first embodiment. Hereinafter, differences will be described.

  In the second embodiment, the update information held in the update information management unit 14 includes the next update scheduled time of the content to be updated or the time until the next update of the content. Here, the time until the next update is the time when the beacon is transmitted from the base station device 10 (substantially the same as the time when the terminal device 20 receives the beacon) and the time when the beacon is actually updated. Refers to the period between.

In the configuration of the terminal device 20 according to the second embodiment, a timer management unit 23 is added to the configuration of the terminal device 20 according to the first embodiment.
The update information processing unit 24 sets the next update scheduled time or the time until the next update included in the acquired update information in the timer management unit 23. When using the next scheduled update time, it is desirable that the time used in the base station device 10 and the time used in the terminal device 20 are completely synchronized.

  The timer management unit 23 manages the next scheduled update time of the content set by the update information processing unit 24 or the time until the next update of the content. Then, the beacon receiving unit 25 is paused until the content is updated. Here, the period until the content is updated is a period in which it is not necessary to receive a beacon including the notification identifier. Note that this period may be set short for a certain period of time (for example, about 10 seconds) in consideration of the time required for connection, the difference in communication time, the time until the beacon receiving unit 25 returns from the sleep state, and the like. Good.

  When there are a plurality of streams to be received, the update information processing unit 24 sets the latest time or the shortest time in the timer management unit 23 among the next update scheduled time or the time until the next update of the streams.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of update information transmitted to the terminal device 20 included in the connection identifier according to the second embodiment. The update information includes the channel, version, and next update scheduled time for each channel (stream).
The identifier generation unit 16 generates a notification identifier based on the update information of the three channels shown in FIG. Specifically, based on the next update scheduled time and the current time included in the update information, the time until the next update scheduled time is determined, and the notification SSID “Version_01: 023: 15: 30: 00_02: 013: 15: 29: 20_03: 008: 17: 30: 00 "is generated. The first “Version” indicates that this notification SSID is a notification regarding update information. The next "01: 023: 15: 30: 00" indicates that the channel is 1ch, the version, that is, the number of updates is 23, and the next scheduled update time is 15:30:30. “02: 013: 15: 29: 20” indicates that the channel is 2ch, the version is 13th edition, and the next update scheduled time is 15:29:20. “03: 008: 17: 30: 00” indicates that the channel is 3ch, the version is 8th edition, and the next update scheduled time is 17:30:30.

When the update information included in the notification identifier includes the content update scheduled time, the next update scheduled time managed by the update information management unit 14 is used as it is.
Further, the update information managed by the update information management unit 14 may include the time until the next update instead of the next update scheduled time. In this case, the update information changes every moment, and the update information management unit 14 performs the update / management. In this case, the identifier generation unit 16 can generate the notification identifier using the update information managed by the update information management unit 14 as it is.

  When the update information processing unit 24 acquires the update information, the update information processing unit 24 sets 90 seconds or 80 seconds (90-10) in the timer management unit 23 in accordance with the update of 2ch whose time until the next update is the shortest.

Next, the operation of the communication system 100 according to Embodiment 2 will be described.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart schematically showing an operation of base station apparatus 10 according to Embodiment 2.
The distribution control unit 130 confirms the distribution schedule (S30), and determines whether there is a stream (channel) for changing the content to be distributed (S31). When there is a stream for changing the content to be distributed (Y in S31), the distribution content is changed according to the distribution schedule (S32), and the update information held by the update information management unit 14 is updated (S33). On the other hand, when there is no stream for changing the content to be distributed (N in S31), the processes in steps S32 and S33 are skipped.

  The identifier generation unit 16 acquires update information held by the update information management unit 14 (S34), and generates a notification identifier based on the acquired update information (S35). This update information includes information on the next update scheduled time or the time until the next update. The beacon transmission unit 17 transmits the notification identifier generated by the identifier generation unit 16 as a beacon (S36).

These processes are repeated after the transition to step S30 until the distribution ends (Y in S37).
In addition, the base station device 10 executes connection identifier transmission, content distribution, connection processing with the terminal device 20, and the like, but description of these processing is omitted here.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart schematically showing the operation of the terminal device 20 according to the second embodiment.
The beacon receiving unit 25 receives the notification identifier included in the beacon (S40). The update information processing unit 24 acquires update information included in the notification identifier (S41).
Then, the update information processing unit 24 compares the update information included in the notification identifier with the update information held by the update information storage unit 27, and determines whether or not the content of the channel to be received has been updated. (S42). Specifically, it is determined whether there is a change between the versions of both update information. If it has been updated (Y in S42), the update information stored in the update information storage unit 27 is updated to the received update information (S43).

  The connection processing unit 26 notifies the connection identifier to the base station device 10 and establishes a connection with the base station device 10 (S44). The content receiving unit 21 receives content distributed from the base station device 10. Thereafter, when the connection is disconnected (Y in S45), the process proceeds to step S46. In step S46, it is determined whether or not all the processes are to be ended (S46). If the processes are not to be ended (N in S46), the processes from step S40 are repeated.

  In step S42, when the update information processing unit 24 has not been updated (N in S42), the update information processing unit 24 sets the pause period of the beacon reception unit 25 based on the next update scheduled time or the time until the next update included in the update information. The timer management unit 23 is set (S47). The beacon receiving unit 25 pauses until the pause time elapses (Y in S48). When the suspension period elapses, it is determined whether or not all the processes are to be ended (S46). If not (N in S46), the processes from step S40 are repeated.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained. In addition, the power consumption of the beacon receiving unit 25 can be reduced by pausing the beacon receiving unit 25 during a period when it is not necessary to receive the notification identifier.

  The present invention has been described based on some embodiments. This embodiment is an exemplification, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to combinations of the respective constituent elements and processing processes, and such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. is there.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a communication system 100 according to a modification.
The communication system 100 according to the modification has the same basic configuration and basic operation as the communication system 100 according to the first and second embodiments. FIG. 9 illustrates an example based on the communication system 100 according to the first embodiment. Hereinafter, points added in the communication system 100 according to the modification will be described.

The terminal device 20 has a function of caching received content.
The content storage unit 28 stores partial data of content received by the content receiving unit 21.

  In content distribution via a wireless LAN, there are cases where all packets cannot be received due to packet loss in the transmission path. Therefore, the content processing unit 22 stores the partial data of the content received by the content receiving unit 21 in the content storage unit 28, and the next time when different partial data of the same content is received, the partial data and the content storage The partial data held in the unit 28 is combined. As a result, more accurate content can be reproduced. If this operation is repeated several times, the entire content can be reproduced with only the partial data held in the content storage unit 28. That is, all the partial data necessary for reproducing the entire content is prepared.

  In this state, the connection processing unit 26 disconnects the connection with the base station apparatus 10 because it is no longer necessary to receive the partial data of the content. Thereafter, the beacon receiving unit 25 receives the notification identifier included in the beacon periodically or at a predetermined timing. When all the partial data necessary for reproducing the entire content is stored in the content storage unit 28, the connection processing unit 26 suspends the connection with the base station apparatus 10 until a connection request is to be made. That is, the connection with the base station apparatus 10 is suspended until the update information processing unit 24 determines that the distribution content is updated and reconnection is necessary. Thereby, useless connection can be further suppressed.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, the terminal device 20 does not receive a beacon while connected to the base station device 10, but may receive a beacon during connection. As a result, it is possible to cope with the case where the distribution content is updated in a stream not currently received. Further, even when the distribution content is updated immediately after disconnection and connection processing is required, it is possible to grasp in advance, so that unnecessary disconnection and connection processing can be omitted.

It is a block diagram which shows the communication system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of update information transmitted to a terminal device included in a connection identifier according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a flowchart schematically showing an operation of the base station apparatus according to Embodiment 1. 4 is a flowchart schematically showing an operation of the terminal device according to the first embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the communication system which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the update information transmitted to the terminal device contained in the identifier for a connection based on Embodiment 2. FIG. 5 is a flowchart schematically showing an operation of a base station apparatus according to Embodiment 2. 7 is a flowchart schematically showing an operation of a terminal device according to the second embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the communication system which concerns on a modification.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 base station apparatus, 11 content memory | storage part, 12 content transmission part, 13 delivery control part, 14 update information management part, 16 identifier production | generation part, 17 beacon transmission part, 18 connection processing part, 20 terminal device, 21 content reception part, 22 content processing unit, 23 timer management unit, 24 update information processing unit, 25 beacon receiving unit, 26 connection processing unit, 27 update information storage unit, 28 content storage unit, 100 communication system.

Claims (2)

A content transmission unit for distributing content;
An update information management unit that manages update information related to the update of the content distributed by the content transmission unit;
An identifier generating unit for generating a notification identifier including update information managed by the update information managing unit;
A beacon transmission unit that transmits the notification identifier generated by the identifier generation unit as a beacon;
In response to a connection request from a terminal device capable of receiving the content, a connection processing unit that performs connection processing with the terminal device;
With
The connection processing unit rejects a connection request using the notification identifier generated by the identifier generation unit, and permits a connection request using a preset connection identifier different from the notification identifier. A base station apparatus characterized by the above. The content transmission unit performs a plurality of content distributions in parallel,
The update information management unit associates and manages identification information for identifying each content delivery and corresponding update information,
The base station apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identifier generation unit generates the notification identifier by associating a plurality of pieces of identification information with update information corresponding to the pieces of identification information.

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