JP5159044B2 - access point - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an access point that is connected to a higher-level communication device and relays communication with a terminal device.

Conventionally, in the case of a large-scale wireless LAN system using a large number of wireless access points, a host communication device such as a management device is provided (see Non-Patent Document 1).
Furuno Systems, Inc., “Products Information”, [online], [Search February 2, 2006], Internet <http://www.finpad.com/product/finpad500f.html>

  When the wireless LAN system becomes large-scale, a group is provided for each use, and a higher-level communication device that performs management for each group may be provided. However, the wireless access point is installed at the place where the wireless access point is installed. There is no method for easily knowing the communication state such as which higher-level communication device belongs to and what kind of terminal device it is communicating with.

  In addition, there is no problem if the service area of the access point is sufficiently wide and there is sufficient radio field strength in any part of the use range. For example, in a large warehouse with several hundred meters from end to end. When communicating with a higher-level communication device (management device) via a wireless access point, it is also necessary to intentionally approach an appropriate wireless access point and perform communication.

However, in a conventional wireless access point, it cannot be determined which host communication device it belongs to. Therefore, if a certain wireless access point is in the field of view and communication can actually be performed using the terminal device, communication is actually performed through another access point that is slightly distant from each other. Often, it was mistaken for communication via a wireless access point in view. In such an environment, for example, it is difficult to find an appropriate wireless access point in order to ensure communication quality such as communication speed.
The above problem also occurs when the terminal device and the access point are connected by wire.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an access point in which information relating to a connected higher-level communication device or terminal device can be easily confirmed by displaying an indicator provided in the device main body.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is configured as follows.
Information on whether or not the access point is communicating with the host communication device at the access point that is connected to the host device and relays communication with the terminal device, and information for distinguishing the host communication device with which the access point is communicating According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an indicator display means for displaying an indicator by changing a display pattern or a display mode according to a communication protocol and a communication priority order during which the access point is communicating.

  (2) The display pattern is, for example, a blinking display pattern of the indicator.

  (3) The display mode of the indicator display means may include display color switching. That is, not only blinking but also its color may be switched.

Since information of the upper communication device or the terminal device is connected is displayed by a difference of at least flashing pattern of the indicator regarding high-level communication device or the terminal device is connected to the access point by the display of the indicator of the access point Information can be grasped accurately. Therefore, for example, communication can be performed in a favorable environment by approaching the terminal to an appropriate wireless access point or connecting the terminal to an appropriate access point. If the information related to the terminal device is information related to the priority order of communication during communication, it is possible to grasp what order of communication the access point is performing, for example, to grasp the occupancy of the band.

Can to have a high visibility by the display pattern according to prior Symbol Display pattern, for example, indicator flashing. Therefore, even when access points are installed in a wide range, the information of the host communication device or terminal device can be read from a distance.

By switching also display color as the display mode before Symbol indicator, it is possible to increase the number of distinct host communication device or the terminal device by the display mode of the indicator.

A wireless access point according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an external view of the wireless access point. In FIG. 1, a plurality of indicators 11 of relatively large LEDs are provided on the upper surface of a housing 10 of the wireless access point. Two antennas 12a and 12b are provided. The wireless access point 1 is attached to the wall surface so that the surface on which the indicator 11 is provided is a vertical surface, or is attached to the ceiling so as to be the lower surface.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the entire network including the wireless access point (hereinafter simply referred to as “access point”) 1 shown in FIG. Here, the access points 1a, 1b, 1c are connected to the hub 4a. The access points 1d and 1e are connected to the hub 4b. Servers 3a and 3b are connected to hubs 4a and 4b, respectively. A router 5 for connecting to the Internet is connected to the hub 4a.

  The server 3a shown in FIG. 2 is a first host communication device, and the server 3b is a second host communication device. For example, a network connected to the server 3a in a large warehouse is under the control of the company A that borrows a part of the warehouse, and a network connected to the server 3b borrows a part of the warehouse. It is under the control of Company B.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of each access point. (A) is a process according to the discrimination of the higher-level communication device, and the higher-level communication device identification information is extracted as shown in the figure. This is done by registering in advance a source address (IP address or MAC address) and which higher-level communication device it corresponds to, extracting the source address from the received packet, , The distinction information of the higher-level communication device is extracted.

  Thereafter, an indicator is displayed according to the distinction between the higher-level communication devices. The relationship between the upper communication device distinction and the indicator blink pattern is set in a table in advance, and the blink pattern corresponding to the extracted upper communication device distinction is read with reference to the table, and the blink pattern Drive the indicator.

  (B) of FIG. 3 is a process according to the discrimination of the terminal device. First, the discrimination information of the currently communicating terminal device is extracted. The source address (IP address or MAC address) and which terminal device it corresponds to are registered in advance in the database, the source address is extracted from the received packet, and the registered contents are The terminal device identification information is extracted with reference to this.

  Thereafter, an indicator is displayed according to the distinction of the terminal device. The relationship between the terminal device distinction and the indicator blinking pattern is set in a table in advance, and the blinking pattern corresponding to the extracted upper communication device distinction is read with reference to the table, and the indicator is used as the blinking pattern. Drive.

  FIG. 3C shows a process based on communication protocol distinction. First, the distinction information of the protocol currently being communicated is extracted. This is performed by extracting protocol information (application layer protocol in the TCP / IP 4-layer hierarchical structure) from the packet. Thereafter, an indicator is displayed according to the distinction of the communication protocol.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing examples of indicator display modes corresponding to the above-mentioned upper-level communication device distinction, terminal device distinction, and communication protocol distinction. In the figure, the square mark indicates that the light is off, the middle point indicates short lighting, and the horizontal bar indicates long lighting.
The indicator 11 shown in FIG. 1 displays one of the above-described upper communication apparatus, terminal apparatus, and communication protocol.

  FIG. 4A shows an example of the blinking pattern of the indicator according to the distinction of the host device. For example, when there is no higher-level communication device (in a state where communication with the higher-level communication device is not performed), the light blinks in a pattern in which a short lighting period continues four times with the light-out period interposed. When the discrimination information of the host communication device is “1”, the short lighting is continued three times with the light extinction period interposed, and the long lighting flashes in one pattern. In addition, when the identification information of the higher-level communication device is “2”, a blinking pattern of two short lightings, one long lighting, and one short lighting is repeated with the light-out period interposed.

  In the example shown in FIG. 4A, this is a blinking pattern corresponding to a 4-bit binary code, and it is possible to distinguish 16 types of higher-level communication devices (high-level communication devices 1 to 15) including the case where there is no communication. This is indicated by the blinking pattern of the indicator. The user can read the distinction of the host communication device from this blinking pattern.

  When the access point shown in FIG. 1 is attached to the ceiling, the indicator 11 faces the lower surface, and when attached to the wall surface, the indicator 11 faces the vertical surface, so that the visibility is high and display contents can be easily displayed even from a distance. I can grasp. In addition, for example, information is not displayed by a display position among a plurality of indicators, but information is displayed by a blinking pattern. Therefore, it is only necessary to see the blinking, and display contents can be grasped even from a distance.

  If the upper communication devices connected in this way can be distinguished, is the access point, for example, an access point under the control of the company A or an access point under the control of the company B? Can be easily grasped.

  FIG. 4B shows an example of a blinking pattern of an indicator corresponding to the terminal device. For example, when there is no terminal device in communication, it blinks in a pattern in which a short lighting period lasts four times with a light-out period interposed therebetween. For example, when the identification information of the terminal device is 1, the short lighting is continued three times with the light extinction period interposed, and the long lighting flashes in a single pattern.

  In the example shown in FIG. 4B, the distinction between the four terminal devices is expressed by the position of the long lighting period within the cycle of the repeated blinking pattern. The user can read the terminal device distinction from such a blinking pattern.

  In addition, when communicating with a plurality of terminal devices, the display is performed in a pattern in which the blinking pattern is superimposed. For example, when the terminal device 1 and the terminal device 3 are connected at the same time, the blinking pattern is obtained by superimposing the blinking pattern of the terminal device 1 and the blinking pattern of the terminal device 3. That is, a blinking pattern of short lighting, long lighting, short lighting, and long lighting is repeated with the light-out period interposed therebetween.

  In this way, it is possible to grasp what kind of terminal device is a wirelessly connected terminal device. Further, if the correspondence between the terminal device and the company that uses the terminal device is determined in advance, it can be determined whether the access point belongs to Company A or Company B.

  FIG. 4C shows an example of the blinking pattern of the indicator corresponding to the communication protocol. For example, when there is no communication, the light blinks in a pattern in which a short lighting period continues four times with the light extinction period interposed therebetween. Further, when the communication protocol is, for example, FTP (File Transfer Protocol), the short lighting is continued three times with the light extinction period interposed, and the long lighting flashes in one pattern. Further, in the case of RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol), a blinking pattern of two short lightings, one long lighting, and one short lighting is repeated with an extinguishing period in between.

  In the example shown in FIG. 4C, the distinction between the four communication protocols is expressed by the position of the long lighting period within the cycle of the repeated blinking pattern. The user can read the communication protocol distinction from such a blinking pattern.

  In addition, when communication is performed using a plurality of communication protocols at the same time, the display is performed in a pattern in which the blinking pattern is superimposed. For example, when FTP communication and RTP communication are performed at the same time, a blinking pattern in which an FTP blinking pattern and an RTP blinking pattern are superimposed is obtained. That is, the blinking pattern of two short lightings and two long lightings is repeated with the extinguishing period interposed therebetween.

  In this way, it is possible to grasp what protocol is currently used for communication by displaying the indicator. As a result, it is possible to predict the occupancy of the band. For this reason, it is possible to avoid an access point having no margin in bandwidth and perform communication by finding an access point where communication is not performed or an access point having a margin in bandwidth.

  FIG. 4D shows an example of the blinking pattern of the indicator according to the communication priority. For example, when the communication priority is 0 (for example, communication with the highest priority such as VoIP), the light blinks in a pattern in which a short lighting period continues three times with the light extinction period in between. When the communication priority is 1 (communication related to WEB browsing, for example, which is prioritized next), the short lighting is continued twice in the light-off period, and the long lighting flashes in one pattern. For example, when the communication priority is 7 (for example, FTP communication having the lowest priority), the blinking pattern in which the long lighting is continued three times with the light-out period being repeated is repeated.

  In the example shown in FIG. 4D, this is a blinking pattern corresponding to a 3-bit binary code, and the communication priority is represented by a blinking pattern of an indicator. From this blinking pattern, the user can read the communication priority currently being communicated.

  In this way, it is possible to grasp whether the communication to be communicated from now is prioritized or not prioritized. It is also possible to predict the occupancy of the band. For this reason, it is possible to avoid an access point having no margin in bandwidth and perform communication by finding an access point where communication is not performed or an access point having a margin in bandwidth.

  In the example shown above, the case where wireless communication is performed between the wireless access point and the terminal has been described. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to the case where wired communication is performed between the access point and the terminal. Play.

  In the example shown above, various distinctions are displayed only by the blinking pattern. However, the distinction between the blinking pattern and the distinction by the display color may be combined. For example, the host communication device or the terminal device may be distinguished by a blinking pattern, and the communication protocol may be distinguished by the display color. The number of distinctions that can be displayed may be increased by distinguishing between higher-level communication devices, terminal devices, and communication protocols using combinations of blinking patterns and colors.

  Moreover, although the example using the indicator by independent LED etc. was shown in the example shown above, you may use the indicator which performs dot matrix display or 7 segment display, for example.

  Note that an indicator for displaying the distinction between the higher-level communication devices, an indicator for displaying the distinction between the terminal devices, and an indicator for displaying the distinction between the communication protocols may be provided separately and displayed simultaneously. At this time, the display color of the indicator that displays the distinction between the higher-level communication devices, the display color of the indicator that displays the distinction between the terminal devices, or the display color of the indicator that displays the distinction between the communication protocols may be different.

It is an external view of a wireless access point. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the whole network. It is a flowchart which shows the processing content of a wireless access point. It is a figure which shows the example of the display mode of the indicator of a wireless access point.

Explanation of symbols

1-Wireless access point 2-Terminal device 3-Server (higher-level communication device)
10-housing 11-indicator 12-antenna

Claims (3)

In an access point that is connected to a host communication device and relays communication with a terminal device,
Information indicating whether the access point is communicating with the higher-level communication device, distinction information of the higher-level communication device with which the access point is communicating, a communication protocol, and a communication priority level at which the access point is communicating Accordingly, an access point characterized by comprising indicator display means for displaying an indicator with different display patterns or display modes.   The access point according to claim 1, wherein the display pattern is a blinking display pattern of the indicator.   The access point according to claim 1, wherein the display mode includes display color switching.

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