JP5453081B2 - Wireless communication device, wireless communication system, and wireless communication method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to various setting processes for wireless communication devices.

  In order to use a wireless LAN, it is necessary to set an access point identifier (SSID), a security key, and the like in the client. Since this setting operation is cumbersome for the user to perform manually, various methods for automatic setting by a simple operation such as pressing a button provided on the device have been proposed. For example, an automatic setting standard or a standard for automatic setting called WPS has been proposed (see Patent Document 1). In the automatic setting of these various standards, when a user presses a button provided on each device, setting information such as an SSID and a security key is transmitted and received between the devices, and the setting is completed.

JP 2009-65357 A

  However, automatic setting by WPS corresponds to only one SSID in the standard. An access point that can use a plurality of SSIDs is also widespread, but when performing automatic setting by WPS, a main SSID is always used.

  In addition, any one SSID is automatically selected in each manufacturer's own standard. In general, the SSID associated with the strongest encryption method among the encryption methods supported by the client is automatically selected.

  Therefore, in any case, in order to use the SSID intended by the user, the user has to manually set the SSID, the encryption system security key, and the like.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication device that can select an SSID for automatic setting with a simple operation.

The wireless communication device of the present invention stores a plurality of setting information used for wireless communication, and performs wireless communication with a device in which any of the setting information is set using the setting information set in the device. A wireless communication unit ;
An operation detection unit that receives an initial setting operation of the wireless communication unit;
Placing receives the initial setting operation by the operation detection unit, the wireless communication unit, among the plurality of the setting information stored, to execute the initial setting to transmit the setting information primarily associated And a control unit.

When the initial setting operation received by the operation detection unit is an operation related to the initial setting that causes the wireless communication unit to transmit setting information that is not mainly associated with the current point, after storing the setting information primarily associated with the serial憶部at the time, to the radio communication unit, to rewrite the setting information this is mainly associated with the setting information to be transmitted this time, then, the When the wireless communication unit executes the initial setting and when the initial setting is completed, the wireless communication unit stores the setting information mainly associated with the setting information stored in the storage unit at that time. Let them be rewritten.

  That is, when setting is performed with an SSID (SSID2: eg Airport-02) different from the main SSID corresponding to WPS (SSID1: eg Airport-01), setting information such as SSID1 Airport-01 (and encryption method, security key, etc.) ) Is temporarily saved in the memory, SSID1 is rewritten to Airport-02 (and setting information such as encryption method, security key, etc.), and after setting by WPS with the rewritten SSID1, SSID1 is converted to Airport-01 (and encryption SSID switching can be realized while conforming to the WPS standard. Therefore, the SSID for automatic setting can be selected by a simple operation according to WPS.

  Further, for example, the user's intention can be obtained by associating the user's operation mode with the setting of each SSID, such as setting by SSID1 if the button provided on the access point is pressed for 3 seconds, setting by SSID2 if pressing the button for 6 seconds, etc. You can easily switch to SSID. As each manufacturer's original plan, any SSID is not automatically selected and connected from a plurality of SSIDs, but can be easily connected from a plurality of SSIDs with the SSID intended by the user. is there. If the connection can be made with the SSID intended by the user, for example, when a QOS having a different priority is defined for each SSID, the desired QOS is determined according to the specification mode (video data reception, reproduction, etc.) of the connected client. It is also possible to easily select the priority.

  According to this invention, it is possible to switch to the SSID intended by the user with a simple operation.

It is a figure which shows the external appearance of a radio | wireless communication apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of a radio | wireless communication terminal. 6 is a diagram showing a list of SSIDs stored in a wireless communication unit 17. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a radio | wireless communication terminal.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an appearance of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of the wireless communication system. In this embodiment, a wireless communication system that performs wireless communication between an access point 1 that is a wireless communication device and a client 2 (a personal computer, a printer, a game machine, etc.) that is a child device will be described.

  The access point 1 includes an operation unit (button) 11 and a notification unit (LED) 12 in appearance. The button 11 is a component for accepting a user's pressing operation and accepting an initial setting instruction. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the button 11 is connected to the control unit 15 via an operation detection unit 13 that detects a pressing operation. In the present embodiment, a button that is physically pressed will be described. However, the operation unit may be a touch sensor, or may be another mode such as a changeover switch or a rotary encoder.

  The LED 12 is a component for notifying the user of the operating state of the access point 1 and is connected to the control unit 15 via the LED drive unit 14 as shown in FIG. The LED drive unit 14 controls the light emission mode (flashing, lighting, emission color, etc.) of the LED 12. In the present embodiment, the LED 12 is turned on, blinks, and the operation state is notified by using a difference in light emission color. However, a character display may be performed using a display unit such as an LCD, or a speaker may be used. Other forms such as notification by voice may be used.

  In FIG. 2, the access point 1 includes an operation detection unit 13, an LED drive unit 14, a storage unit (work memory) 16, and a wireless communication unit 17 connected to the control unit 15. As described above, the button 11 is connected to the operation detection unit 13, and the LED 12 is connected to the LED drive unit 14.

  The operation detection unit 13 detects a pressing operation of the button 11 and outputs an operation signal to the control unit 15. The control unit 15 detects a user operation mode according to the operation signal input from the operation detection unit 13. For example, when a pressing operation is performed for 3 seconds or more and an operation signal is input for 3 seconds or more, the control unit 15 determines that an initial setting instruction operation has been performed by the user, and receives an initial setting instruction.

  When receiving an initial setting instruction from the user, the control unit 15 instructs the LED driving unit 14 to cause the LED 12 to blink in blue, for example, and notifies the user that the initial setting instruction has been received. Then, the control unit 15 causes the wireless communication unit 17 that is a wireless communication module to perform initial setting. The initial setting is an operation for establishing the wireless communication with the client 2 by transmitting the setting information such as the SSID that is the identifier of the access point, the encryption method, and the security key to the client 2. In the present embodiment, an example of performing initial setting in accordance with the WPS push button method standard will be described (however, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to WPS).

  The wireless communication unit 17 stores a plurality of SSIDs in a built-in memory (not shown). When the control unit 15 instructs execution of initial settings, the wireless communication unit 17 searches for clients compatible with WPS, and these SSIDs. Among them, information (setting information such as SSID, encryption method, security key, etc.) related to SSID 1 (see FIG. 3) corresponding to WPS is transmitted to the client 2. In general, the client side is provided with a WPS setting button (or utility software), and when the user performs an operation of pressing the button on the client side (or an operation corresponding to the button pressing by the utility software), The setting information transmitted from the access point 1 can be received.

  The client 2 stores the setting information received from the access point 1 in its storage unit (not shown). Thereby, the wireless communication part 17 and the client 2 can perform wireless communication based on the setting information memorize | stored mutually.

  Here, the wireless communication system of the present embodiment can set an arbitrary SSID desired by the user from a plurality of SSIDs stored in the wireless communication unit 17 in the initial setting according to the WPS. is there.

  As illustrated in FIG. 3, the wireless communication unit 17 stores a plurality (four in this example) of SSIDs, and sets each SSID for each client, thereby wirelessly using different SSIDs for each client. It can communicate. In the example of the figure, SSID1 (Airport-01) is associated with VLAN1 in the encryption scheme WPA-PSK and QOS priority, and SSID2 (Airport-02) is associated with the encryption scheme WEP, QOS priority high, VLAN1 is associated, SSID3 (Airport-03) is associated with the encryption method WPA-PSK, QOS priority, VLAN2 is associated, and SSID4 (Airport-04) is the encryption method WEP, QOS priority. Low and VLAN2 are associated.

  In this way, each SSID is associated with a different encryption method, QOS priority, VLAN, and other settings. Switching the SSID changes the encryption method, QOS priority, and VLAN. Can be switched.

  For example, when a client that receives and reproduces video data is used, it is necessary to increase the priority of the QOS of the client, so it is necessary to connect with SSID2 instead of SSID1. Further, for example, when it is necessary to switch from VLAN 1 to VLAN 2 due to a change of department in the company, the client connected with SSID 1 needs to be switched to SSID 3.

  Generally, when a user connects with any desired SSID, the user accesses using utility software or the like installed in a client (or a client connected by wire) that has already established wireless communication. Read the SSID, encryption method, security key, etc. from the point (take a note), then manually set the read SSID, etc. using the newly connected client utility software, etc. Key in).

  However, the wireless communication system of the present invention can establish wireless communication using a desired SSID with a simple operation without performing the manual setting as described above. In the present embodiment, a mode in which the SSID to be set is selected according to the length of time the button 11 is pressed is shown.

  For example, when an operation signal of 6 seconds or longer is input from the operation detection unit 13, the control unit 15 determines that an initial setting instruction operation using the SSID 2 has been performed by the user, and receives an initial setting instruction using the SSID 2. When receiving an initial setting instruction based on SSID2 from the user, the control unit 15 instructs the LED drive unit 14 to cause the LED 12 to blink in green, for example, and notifies the user that the initial setting instruction based on SSID2 has been received. Then, the control unit 15 reads the setting information such as the SSID (Airport-01) of SSID 1, the encryption method, and the security key from the wireless communication unit 17 and temporarily stores it in the storage unit 16.

  Thereafter, the control unit 15 instructs the wireless communication unit 17 to rewrite SSID1 with setting information such as an SSID (Airport-02) of SSID2, an encryption method, and a security key, and executes initial setting. After the initial setting of the wireless communication unit 17 is completed, the control unit 15 restores the setting information such as the SSID 1 (Airport-01), the encryption method, and the security key temporarily stored in the storage unit 16. Accordingly, the wireless communication unit 17 can set setting information such as an SSID (Airport-02) of SSID2, an encryption method, and a security key in the initial setting according to WPS.

  The above operation will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, the button 11 is pressed and an operation signal is input from the operation detection unit 13 to the control unit 15 as a trigger.

  The control unit 15 waits until an operation signal is input for 3 seconds or more (s10). When an operation signal of 3 seconds or more is input, the control unit 15 instructs the LED driving unit 14 to blink the LED 12 in blue, and accepts an initial setting instruction from the user by blinking the LED 12 in blue. Is notified (s11).

  Thereafter, the control unit 15 determines whether or not the operation signal is input for 6 seconds or more (s12). If 6 seconds has not elapsed, it is determined whether or not the pressing of the button 11 is released, that is, whether or not the input of the operation signal is stopped (s13). If the input of the operation signal is not stopped, the process returns to s12.

When the input of the operation signal is stopped, the control unit 15 receives an instruction for initial setting by SSID1, and causes the wireless communication unit 17 to perform initial setting by WPS (s14). As described above, in the initial setting by WPS, a client that supports WPS is searched, and setting information such as SSID (Airport-01), encryption method (WPA-PSK), security key, and the like related to SSID 1 is stored in client 2. Send. When the initial setting of the wireless communication unit 17 is completed, the control unit 15 instructs the LED drive unit 14 to turn on the LED 12 in blue, and notifies the user that the initial setting has been completed by turning on the LED 12 in blue. (S2 0 ).

  On the other hand, in the determination of s12, when the control unit 15 determines that the operation signal has been input for 6 seconds or longer, the control unit 15 instructs the LED drive unit 14 to blink the LED 12 in green, and blinks the LED 12 in green. The user is notified that the initial setting instruction by SSID2 has been accepted (s15).

  Thereafter, the control unit 15 reads various setting information such as the SSID (Airport-01), the encryption method (WPA-PSK), the security key, and the like related to SSID 1 from the wireless communication unit 17 and temporarily stores them in the storage unit 16 (s16). . Then, the control unit 15 instructs the wireless communication unit 17 to overwrite various setting information such as SSID (Airport-02), encryption method (WEP), and security key related to SSID2 on SSID1 (s17). Thereby, the various setting information of SSID1 of the wireless communication unit 17 is rewritten to the various setting information of SSID2.

  Thereafter, the control unit 15 causes the wireless communication unit 17 to perform initial setting by WPS (s18). As described above, in the initial setting by WPS, a client that supports WPS is searched and various setting information related to SSID 1 is transmitted to client 2. At this time, the various setting information of SSID 1 is SSID 2. Therefore, the various setting information of SSID 2 is transmitted to the client 2.

  When the initial setting of the wireless communication unit 17 is completed, the control unit 15 reads various setting information of SSID1 temporarily stored in the storage unit 16 and instructs to overwrite the SSID1 of the wireless communication unit 17 (s19). . Then, the control unit 15 instructs the LED drive unit 14 to turn on the LED 12 in blue, and notifies the user that the initial setting is completed by turning on the LED 12 in blue (s20).

  As described above, the access point of this embodiment can switch the SSID by automatic setting according to the WPS standard. Since automatic setting according to the WPS standard is performed, there is no need for any special configuration on the client side as long as it supports WPS, and wireless communication using an arbitrary SSID can be performed with a simple operation using an existing client. It can be carried out.

  In this embodiment, a mode in which an initial setting by WPS is instructed by pressing a button provided on an access point is shown. However, a client (or wired connection) that has already established wireless communication is shown. It is also possible to instruct the initial setting of another client using utility software installed in the client). For example, by selecting an icon displayed on the screen, the same mode as the button pressing operation can be realized.

  In the above example, the WPS setting by SSID1 is performed by pressing operation for 3 to 6 seconds, and the WPS setting by SSID2 is performed by pressing for 6 seconds or more. However, the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, WPS setting by SSID1 is performed by one press operation, WPS setting by SSID2 is performed by two press operations, WPS setting by SSID3 is performed by three press operations, and WPS setting by SSID4 is performed by four press operations. Embodiments are possible. A plurality of buttons (for example, four) may be provided, and each button may be associated with each SSID.

  In this embodiment, an example in which an encryption method, a QOS priority, and a VLAN are associated with each SSID has been described. However, for example, a communication method may be associated with each SSID. For example, SSID1 can be dedicated to IEEE 802.11n, SSID2 can be dedicated to IEEE 802.11g, and so on. In this case, there is no need to transmit / receive packets of a communication method other than IEEE 802.11n between devices that communicate using SSID1, and no unnecessary communication is performed.

1 ... Access point 11 ... Button 12 ... LED
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 ... Operation detection part 14 ... LED drive part 15 ... Control part 16 ... Memory | storage part 17 ... Wireless communication part 2 ... Client

Claims (6)

A plurality of setting information used for wireless communication is stored, and a wireless communication unit that performs wireless communication with a device in which any one of the setting information is set, using the setting information set in the device ;
An operation detection unit that receives an initial setting operation of the wireless communication unit;
Placing receives the initial setting operation by the operation detection unit, the wireless communication unit, among the plurality of the setting information stored, to execute the initial setting to transmit the setting information primarily associated A control unit ,
When the initial setting operation received by the operation detection unit is an operation related to the initial setting that causes the wireless communication unit to transmit setting information that is not mainly associated with the current point, after storing the setting information primarily associated with the serial憶部at the time, to the radio communication unit, to rewrite the setting information this is mainly associated with the setting information to be transmitted this time, then, the When the wireless communication unit executes the initial setting and when the initial setting is completed, the wireless communication unit stores the setting information mainly associated with the setting information stored in the storage unit at that time. A wireless communication device characterized in that the device is rewritten . It has an operation unit that accepts user operations,
The said control part judges the setting information transmitted to the said radio | wireless communication part by the said initial setting according to the operation mode of the said operation part detected in the said operation detection part , The Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Wireless communication equipment.   The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the setting information includes an identifier of the wireless communication device.   The wireless communication device according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit that notifies a user that the initial setting operation has been accepted. A wireless communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A wireless communication system including a slave unit that receives setting information from the wireless communication device and communicates with the wireless communication device. In a wireless communication method that stores a plurality of setting information used for wireless communication, and performs wireless communication with a device that has set any of the setting information using the setting information set in the device ,
An accepting step for accepting an initial setting operation of the wireless communication;
Placing receives the initial setting operation in the accepting step, in a plurality of the setting information stored includes a initialization step for performing an initial setting for transmitting setting information primarily associated, the ,
In the initial setting step, when the initial setting operation received in the receiving step is an operation related to the initial setting that transmits setting information that is not mainly associated at that time, the initial setting step is mainly associated at that time. after storing the setting information in the storage unit is, after rewriting the setting information this is mainly associated with the setting information to be transmitted this time, perform a pre-Symbol initial setting, further wherein the initial setting is completed Then, the wireless communication method characterized by rewriting the setting information mainly associated at that time with the setting information stored in the storage unit .