JP5851073B2 - Access point device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an access point device for enabling a large number of simultaneous connections in an arbitrary space in an infrastructure mode of a wireless communication client such as a notebook computer, a smartphone, and a tablet terminal in a wireless communication environment such as a wireless LAN. .

  Recently, the usage environment of “wireless networks (Wi-Fi (registered trademark))” centering on smartphones (hereinafter abbreviated as “smartphones”) has increased explosively, and satisfactory connection can be achieved with the conventional device specifications. There is no state. It is pointed out that the mobile phone company's wireless connection environment is “extremely difficult to connect” at the peak due to disasters, etc., and there is a problem when it is desired to connect intensively within a certain range (narrow area).

  The amount of traffic such as smartphones is not only due to the use of image data, but also due to installed applications that access the server at regular intervals and are always connected to send and receive large amounts of data . For this reason, some smartphones are designed to automatically switch when a connectable Wi-Fi is found.

  In addition to this, there are multi-terminal "simultaneous connection" in narrow areas such as conference rooms, seminar rooms, educational sites (introduction of tablets in school education), questionnaires by smartphones in small areas such as lecture halls and electronic voting such as general meetings. Needs are also increasing. In addition, as one of the measures for disasters and emergencies in the public, there is a growing demand for “simultaneous access” to networks such as station premises, evacuation (planned) places, and schools.

  Currently, the number of client terminals that can be simultaneously connected to one access point for wireless connection is generally 10 or more, but the number that can operate smoothly without stress is more than that. There are few, practically about 10 units. The cause is due to radio wave interference and communication with one access point device (wireless LAN router, etc.) in the CSMA / CA communication method is waiting in turn, so-called communication delay occurs between the access point device and the client terminal. It is to do.

  In response to these problems, the number of access points installed is increased to reduce the number of client terminals for one access point device. However, there is a problem caused by radio wave interference for each access point device and one access point device. There remains a problem due to the limitation of the receiving speed of the device (wireless LAN router, etc.).

  Wireless communication devices including conventional access point devices are designed with the goal of increasing the communicable range (see, for example, Patent Document 1), and the communicable range is several tens to hundreds of meters indoors and outdoors. It can span hundreds of meters. For example, an access point device attached to an indoor ceiling is generally devised to increase a communicable range by attaching a dipole antenna or a monopole antenna in the vertical direction and spreading radio waves from the antenna in the horizontal direction.

  As described above, since the conventional access point device is configured with a focus on increasing the communication range, one connection client can simultaneously recognize the communication range of a large number of access points. Become. For this reason, the operator of the connection client needs to select and connect these access points. This work requires a certain amount of knowledge and operation, and it may be difficult for the client operator to operate satisfactorily.

JP 2013-176137 A

  This background originates from the fact that Wi-Fi is not designed for use in a high user density with a large number of people concentrated in one place. Therefore, when a large number of connection clients try to connect to the network at the same time, a malfunction may occur in which connection is not established.

  In addition, this malfunction occurs in the same situation when there is a problem with other devices other than the access point device. Therefore, it is difficult to determine whether the cause of the connection failure is the problem of the number of connection trials or the system itself, and the system administrator has been troublesome to recover.

  Furthermore, with the widespread use of tethering that allows a mobile phone terminal or the like to function as the access point, the number of Wi-Fi access points existing in a given space is increasing. In this situation, the number of set channels in the frequency band (currently 2.4 GHz band and 5 GHz band) allocated to each of these access points is chronically insufficient, and it becomes difficult for wireless clients to connect to the network. Yes.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an access point device for a wireless LAN that can increase the number of connected wireless communication devices in a certain arbitrary space in order to solve the above-described problem.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as follows.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an access point device for a wireless LAN that is connected to a wired network and simultaneously connects a plurality of wireless communication clients to the wired network.
An interface unit for communicating the communication signal with an external device;
The communication signal communicated with the interface unit is transmitted and received as a wireless communication signal, and the concave reflector and the tip portion that radiates radio waves are arranged so that the position inside the reflector can be changed. An antenna unit including a feeder line inserted from the outer back side of the reflector;
There is provided an access point device including an attenuator provided in a signal emission portion of the antenna unit so as to cover an opening portion of the reflector and reducing a communicable range of the wireless communication signal.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the antenna unit and the attenuator are configured so that a directivity angle of the communicable range is approximately 10 to 15 °, and a wireless communication signal reachable distance is within 5 m. The access point device according to the first aspect is provided.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the access point device according to the first aspect, wherein the antenna unit is configured by a directional antenna.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the antenna unit has a reflector configured in a concave shape,
The attenuator is provided so as to cover an opening portion of the reflector. The access point device according to the first aspect is provided.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the access point device according to the first aspect, wherein the attenuator is configured as a porous body in which a plurality of through holes are provided in a plate-like body.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the access point device according to the first aspect, wherein the attenuator has a multilayer structure in which dielectric sheets and spacers on a plurality of sheets are laminated.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the access point device according to any one of the fourth to sixth aspects, wherein the reflector is configured as a paraboloid.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the access point device is configured to be attached to a ceiling in a building so that a main beam in the communicable range faces downward. An aspect of the access point apparatus is provided.

  According to the present invention, an attenuator is used to mechanically narrow the communication range. Speaking of the characteristics of the antenna, even if the output of the feeder line is weakened, the field strength, that is, the communicable range in which a voltage sufficient for wireless communication with the mobile communication terminal can be secured does not change much. Also, for example, even if the direction of the radio wave is adjusted to the vertical direction by adjusting the direction of the antenna, such as a dipole antenna, and the spread of the direct wave in the horizontal direction is reduced, the radio wave is reflected off the floor etc. if the radio wave reach is long As a result, the communicable range is increased by the reflected wave. For this reason, in the present invention, an attenuator is provided in the signal emission portion of the antenna unit to reduce the communicable range, and the electric field strength (the strength of the radio wave at the arrival point) does not change so much.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, the number of wireless communication clients existing in the communicable range is reduced by focusing on one access point by reducing the communicable range of the wireless communication signal. For this reason, the number of access points to be detected at any location where one wireless communication client is located can be reduced, and the connection operation to the access point can be facilitated. Also, in a situation where the density of wireless communication clients is high The problem of poor communication of the wireless communication client can be solved.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a wireless communication network system using an access point device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the arrangement configuration to the space of the access point used for the radio | wireless communication network of FIG. It is the schematic diagram which looked at the access point arrangement configuration of FIG. 2 from the side. It is a schematic diagram which shows the state which has arrange | positioned several conventional access points with a large communicable range. It is a block diagram which shows typically the structure of the access point apparatus concerning this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the attenuation | damping board used for the antenna of FIG. It is a schematic diagram explaining the discharge | release direction of the electromagnetic wave which passes the attenuation | damping board of FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the other structural example of an attenuation | damping board. It is sectional drawing in the IX-IX line of FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows typically the further another structural example of an attenuation | damping board.

  Before continuing the description of the present invention, the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals in the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a wireless communication network system using an access point device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The wireless communication network system 1 according to the present embodiment is suitable in a usage form in which, for example, participants in a large number of conferences or the like in a building 100 connect to a network NT such as the Internet using their wireless communication terminals 4. Can be used for

  The system 1 includes a base device 2 connected to a network NT by wire, an access point device 3 as a relay device connected to the base device 2 wirelessly, and wireless communication operated by each participant existing indoors. The terminal 4 is configured. The base device 2 and the access point device 3, and the access point device 3 and the wireless communication terminal 4 each have a system architecture of Wi-Fi connection. In this embodiment, between the base device 2 and the access point device 3 Communication uses 5 GHz band radio waves, and communication between the access point device 3 and the wireless communication terminal 4 uses 2.4 GHz band radio waves.

  The network NT includes, for example, various forms such as the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, a LAN, a MAN, a WAN, or a combination thereof. The network NT is wired or wireless, and moreover, wired and wireless are mixed. Regardless of whether it is a type or not, it may be anything that can transmit information at a certain speed between a plurality of points (regardless of the length of the distance).

  The base device 2 is connected to the network by a wire and has a circuit for transmitting a communication signal with the network NT as a radio signal and processing the transmitted / received signal. Examples of the wireless communication terminal 4 include portable terminals such as mobile phones and tablet terminals, portable communication products such as wireless network devices for PDAs and PCs, and data cards. As the base device 2 and the wireless communication terminal 4, those widely used can be used as they are. That is, it has a system such as a standard protocol for mobile wireless communication devices (for example, 802.11n for wireless LAN) and can transmit / receive communication signals to / from the access point device 3 wirelessly or by wire. Anything is acceptable.

  The access point device 3 has a router function that performs route selection of a communication signal from the base device 2 to a plurality of wireless communication terminals 4 and relays it wirelessly. 2 and 3 are schematic views showing the arrangement configuration of the access point device in the space. 2 and 3, a plurality of access point devices 3 according to the present embodiment are provided on the indoor ceiling 101 of the building 100, and each has an independent communication channel. The range in which the channel of each access point device 3 covers the space, that is, the communicable range 5, is configured to have a directivity that is long in the vertical direction and narrow in the horizontal direction, as shown in FIGS. ing.

  In the present embodiment, the communicable range 5 is configured to have a directivity angle of about 10 to 15 ° so as to be a range of several meters in the horizontal direction, and the reach distance is within 10 m, preferably within 5 m. It is configured as follows. Therefore, the reach distance of the radio wave by the direct wave and the reflected wave can be shortened by attaching an attenuator to the antenna as will be described later, thereby reducing the communicable range of the access point device 3.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the main beam in the communicable range 5 has directivity in the vertical direction. This is to ensure communication between each wireless communication terminal 4 and the access point device 3 by reducing the number of wireless communication terminals 4 existing in the communicable range 5 when the user density is constant. Is to do. In general, this is a feature different from a conventional access point device configured such that the communicable range is widened in the horizontal direction.

  By providing a plurality of access point devices 3 having a small communicable range 5 in this manner, there are multiple access points in a certain space, but the area where the communicable ranges 5 overlap each other becomes smaller. It is possible to reduce the influence on the interference characteristics at the time of use.

  Specifically, FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 will be compared and described. FIG. 4 shows a state where a plurality of access points having a large communication range are arranged. As shown in FIG. 2, by providing a plurality of access points having a small communicable range 5, the number of access points in a given space increases, and the wireless communication terminal 4 corresponding to the number can be connected without malfunction. it can. This point is common in that the access point device 51 having a large communicable range 55 can connect the wireless communication terminals 4 corresponding to the number of arrangements to the network N.

  However, by increasing the number of access points having a large communicable range 55, if attention is paid to any one wireless communication client, the number of channels simultaneously received increases, and the interference and channel selection effort increase. As shown in FIG. 2, when the communicable range of one access point is small, the number of channels detected by the wireless communication terminal 4 existing at certain arbitrary points P1 and P2 decreases, and there is a problem of interference between channels. Can be reduced.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 4, when an access point that has been used conventionally and has a large communicable range is used, the number of channels detected by the wireless communication terminal 4 existing at an arbitrary point P3 increases. For this reason, the problem of interference between the respective channels is likely to occur, and the trouble of the wireless communication terminal 4 selecting the access point device becomes complicated.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of the access point device according to the embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, the antenna 6 used in the access point device 3 according to the present embodiment is configured as a parabolic antenna having a reflector 7 having a paraboloid and a concave shape. In addition, when it is necessary to lengthen the reflector 7, you may use the reflector 7 with which the cylindrical member was attached to the parabola part and the opening part of the said parabola part.

  Further, the antenna 6 is provided with a communication control unit 12 and an I / F unit 13, which converts a communication signal received from the base device 2 and emits it from the antenna 6 to the outside.

  The reflector 6 of the antenna 6 is configured such that the tip 8a of the feed line 8 is located in the vicinity of the focal point, and the radio wave radiated from the feed line 8 is reflected to exhibit good directivity characteristics. Can do. An attenuator plate 10 as an example of an attenuator is detachably attached to the reflector 7 at the opening 9 of the reflector 7.

  The reflector 7 is configured so that the diameter of the opening 9 is approximately 10 cm or less, preferably 5 to 10 cm, and emits the radio wave emitted in the reflector 7 with directivity in the opening direction. The size of the reflector 7 is preferably adjusted according to various conditions such as the frequency of radio waves used for communication.

  The attenuation plate 10 is provided for attenuating the output of the radiated radio wave, and is a plate-like member configured using a radio wave absorber made of a conductive or dielectric material. . The thickness and shape of the attenuation plate 10 may be appropriately adjusted according to the aperture of the reflector 7 to be used, the size of the communicable range to be set, and the like. In general, the reflector 7 having this configuration increases the communicable range of the antenna 6 as the aperture increases.

  Further, the antenna 6 adjusts the depth position in the reflector 7 to which the attenuation plate 10 is attached and the position of the end portion 8a of the feeder line 8 as indicated by arrows 91 and 92, so that the directivity angle of the communicable range 5 is reached. And the reach of radio waves can be adjusted.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the attenuation plate 10 can be provided with a through hole 11 in the attenuation plate body 10a to adjust the area shielded by the attenuation plate body 10a. As an example, the thickness of the attenuation plate main body 10a can be set to about 1 to 5 mm, the diameter of the through hole 11 can be set to 5 to 15 mm, and the pitch Py in the vertical direction and the pitch Px in the horizontal direction can be set to about 3 to 7 mm.

  By using the attenuation plate 10 having the through-hole 11, as shown in FIG. 7, the radio wave 51 that is diffusely reflected by the inner wall of the reflector 7 and radiated at a large angle with respect to the directivity angle is not emitted outside the reflector. By doing so, the directivity angle of the radio wave 52 emitted from the opening of the reflector 7 can be reduced.

  Moreover, the attenuation | damping board 10 is good also as a structure which provided the partition by the grating | lattice part 11a inside the ring-shaped main-body part 10b, as shown in FIG. 8, FIG. The thickness D of the main body portion 10b can be 1 to 2 cm, and the thickness d of the lattice portion 11a may be configured to be thinner than the thickness D of the main body portion 10b. can do.

  Furthermore, as the attenuation plate 14 according to the modification, as shown in FIG. 10, a dielectric sheet 15 can be laminated. As the dielectric sheet 15, thin sheet-like aluminum, iron, or the like can be used, and a plurality of sheets are laminated between these dielectric sheets 15 via a sheet-like spacer 16 made of a non-dielectric material. . As the spacer 16, a plastic film, paper, or the like can be used.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the access point device 3 according to the present embodiment is provided on the indoor ceiling 101 of the building 100 so that the opening of the reflector 7 faces downward. By mounting in this way, the main beam of the radio wave radiated from the antenna 6 can give downward directivity, and the spread of the communicable range in the horizontal direction is reduced. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the main beam of the radio wave emitted from the antenna is dense in the area 5a below the access point device 3, and the radio wave density in the surrounding 5b becomes sparse.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the access point device 3 according to the present embodiment communicates with the base device 2 using a frequency of 5 GHz band, and further transmits and receives 2.4 GHz band radio waves to perform a plurality of wireless communication. Terminal 4 is simultaneously connected to network NT. In order to perform this operation, as shown in FIG. 5, the communication control unit 12 includes a communication circuit 12a having a function of frequency modulation using a standard protocol installed in the base device 2 and the wireless communication terminal 4, and a path selection. A router circuit 12b is provided.

  As described above, according to the access point device according to the present embodiment, by reducing the communicable range of the radio communication signal, if attention is paid to one access point, the radio communication client existing in the communicable range. The number of For this reason, the number of access points to be detected in any location where one wireless communication client is located can be reduced, the connection operation to the access point can be facilitated, and the problem of poor communication of the wireless communication client can be solved. can do.

  The access point device according to the present embodiment accesses the ceiling of the conference room when a large number of people are required to connect to the network NT using mobile terminals at the same time, for example, in a conference room or seminar room. The point device 3 is provided with a predetermined interval in consideration of the spread in the horizontal direction of the communicable range 5 of the point device 3. By arranging the access point device 3 in this way, the number of wireless communication terminals 4 existing within the communicable range covered by one access point is reduced, and many people can access the network NT at the same time. In this case, the conference room is divided into fine areas based on the communicable range 5 of the access point device 3, and which access point should be connected to participants such as conferences existing in the area. It is preferable to notify. As a notification method, it is preferable to indicate the number of the access point device 3 on a table arranged in the conference room. In addition, by arranging a radio wave absorbing material on the desk or floor surface of the conference room, the irregular reflection of radio waves can be prevented, and the area in which the access point device 3 is in charge can be partitioned more clearly. The occurrence of radio interference can be suppressed.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, It can implement in another various aspect. For example, the configuration of the antenna is not limited to the parabolic antenna shown in FIG. 5, and the configuration is not particularly limited as long as a communicable range according to the gist of the present invention can be realized.

  In addition, the access point device 3 may be connected to the base device by wire, and in this case, the I / F unit has an appropriate configuration for realizing wired connection.

  It is to be noted that, by appropriately combining arbitrary embodiments of the various embodiments described above, the effects possessed by them can be produced. Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, various variations and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as being included therein, so long as they do not depart from the scope of the present invention according to the appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wireless communication network system 2 Base apparatus 3 Access point apparatus 4 Wireless communication terminal 5 Communication possible range 6 Antenna 7 Reflector 8 Feeding line 9 Opening part 10 and 14 Attenuation plate 11 Through-hole 12 Communication control part 13 I / F part 15 Dielectric Body sheet 16 spacer

Claims (7)

An access point device for a wireless LAN connected to a wired network and simultaneously connecting a plurality of wireless communication clients to the wired network,
An interface unit for communicating the communication signal with an external device;
The communication signal communicated with the interface unit is transmitted and received as a wireless communication signal, and the concave reflector and the tip portion that radiates radio waves are arranged so that the position inside the reflector can be changed. An antenna unit including a feeder line inserted from the outer back side of the reflector;
And an attenuator provided at a signal emission part of the antenna unit so as to cover an opening part of the reflector and reducing a communicable range of the wireless communication signal.   2. The access point device according to claim 1, wherein the antenna unit and the attenuator are configured so that a directivity angle of the communicable range is approximately 10 to 15 ° and a reach distance of a wireless communication signal is within 5 m. .   The access point device according to claim 1, wherein the antenna unit includes a directional antenna.   The access point device according to claim 1, wherein the attenuator is configured as a porous body in which a plurality of through holes are provided in a plate-like body.   The access point device according to claim 1, wherein the attenuator has a multilayer structure in which a plurality of sheet-like dielectric sheets and spacers are laminated.   The access point device according to claim 1, wherein the reflector is configured as a parabolic curved surface.   The access point apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the access point apparatus is configured to be attached to a ceiling in a building such that a main beam in the communicable range faces downward.

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