JP6082529B2 - TRANSMISSION CIRCUIT, INTEGRATED CIRCUIT INTO IT AND ITS TRANSMISSION DEVICE, POSITION POSITIONING SYSTEM, AND TRANSMISSION METHOD - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a transmission circuit, an integrated circuit in which the transmission circuit is integrated, a transmission apparatus, a positioning system, and a transmission method, and more specifically, using a transmission apparatus installed indoors and / or outdoors, The present invention relates to a transmission technique in a position positioning system that specifies the position of a moving terminal device.

  In recent years, a technique for specifying the position of a mobile terminal device such as a mobile phone based on a signal from a transmitter installed indoors and / or outdoors using wireless communication such as GPS or wireless LAN has been put into practical use. is there.

  Since radio waves from GPS may not be received indoors, for example, a technique for performing position measurement using a wireless LAN has been proposed in an underground mall, an airport, a station, or a building.

  Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2006-220620 (Patent Document 1) discloses a position detection system using a wireless LAN based on the offset peak times of radio waves from three or more transmission devices received by a terminal device. Disclose a method for identifying

JP 2006-220620 A

  In a positioning system using a wireless LAN, a communication method based on the IEEE 802.11 standard may be employed between a transmission device (hereinafter also referred to as an access point (AP)) and a terminal device.

  In the IEEE 802.11 standard, in order to specify each access point, unique identification information (ID information) called BSSID (Basic Service Set ID) is assigned to each access point. Each access point transmits a data frame (beacon frame) including the above BSSID at a constant period in order to make the terminal device recognize its presence.

  Since this beacon frame can be received by any receiving device compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard, a third party can easily obtain the BSSID of the access point.

  Then, for example, there is a possibility that a position positioning system constructed so as to be usable only by a contracted specific user may be used without permission by a third party other than the specific user.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and its purpose is to prevent unauthorized use of the system by a third party other than a specific user in a positioning system using wireless communication. It is to be.

The transmission circuit according to the present invention transmits data used for specifying the position of the terminal device to the terminal device in a position measurement system for specifying the position of the terminal device by the terminal device owned by the user using wireless communication. Included in the transmitter. The transmission circuit includes a data generation unit that generates data to be transmitted to the terminal device according to a predetermined data frame format, and a transmission unit that transmits the generated data via an antenna included in the transmission device. The transmission circuit is preset with unique identification information for distinguishing it from the transmission circuits included in other transmission apparatuses. Data frame includes a first region for storing identification information, a third that is capable of storing a second region for storing a network identifier for identifying a group to perform wireless communication, any information And the area. The data generation unit stores dummy information different from the identification information in the first area, stores a network identifier in the second area, and stores information corresponding to the identification information in the third area.

Preferably, the dummy information is set in common with at least one other transmission circuit.
Preferably, the data generation unit encrypts the identification information and stores it in the third area.

  Preferably, the transmission device is an access point used in a wireless LAN compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard.

  Preferably, the data frame is a beacon frame used in a wireless LAN that complies with the IEEE 802.11 standard.

  Preferably, the terminal device specifies the position of the terminal device based on data from at least three transmission devices.

An integrated circuit according to the present invention is obtained by integrating the above-described transmission circuit.
A transmission device according to the present invention transmits data used to specify the position of a terminal device to the terminal device in a position measurement system for specifying the position of the terminal device by a terminal device owned by a user using wireless communication. . The transmission device includes an antenna, a data generation unit that generates data to be transmitted to the terminal device in accordance with a predetermined data frame format, and a transmission unit that transmits the generated data via the antenna. The transmission apparatus is preset with unique identification information for distinguishing it from other transmission apparatuses. Data frame includes a first region for storing identification information, a third that is capable of storing a second region for storing a network identifier for identifying a group to perform wireless communication, any information And the area. The data generation unit stores dummy information different from the identification information in the first area, stores a network identifier in the second area, and stores information corresponding to the identification information in the third area.

The position positioning system according to the present invention specifies the position of a terminal device using a terminal device owned by a user using wireless communication. The position positioning system includes a plurality of transmission devices that transmit data used for specifying the position of the terminal device to the terminal device. Each of the plurality of transmission devices includes an antenna, a data generation unit that generates data to be transmitted to the terminal device in accordance with a predetermined data frame format, and a transmission unit that transmits the generated data via the antenna. . In each of the plurality of transmission devices, unique identification information for distinguishing from other transmission devices is set in advance. Data frame includes a first region for storing identification information, a third that is capable of storing a second region for storing a network identifier for identifying a group to perform wireless communication, any information And having a region. The data generation unit stores dummy information different from the identification information in the first area, stores a network identifier in the second area, and stores information corresponding to the identification information in the third area.

  Preferably, the terminal device has map information in which installation positions of the plurality of transmission devices are set in advance. The terminal device specifies the position of the terminal device in the map information using the distance from the terminal device to each of the plurality of transmission devices, which is determined based on the reception strength of data from the plurality of transmission devices and the identification information. .

  Preferably, the position positioning system further includes a management device for managing a plurality of transmission devices.

The method according to the present invention is a method of transmitting data by a transmission device included in the position positioning system in a position positioning system for specifying the position of a terminal device by a terminal device owned by a user using wireless communication. The data is stored in a predetermined data frame format. The transmission apparatus is preset with unique identification information for distinguishing it from other transmission apparatuses. The data frame stores a first area in which identification information is stored, a second area in which a network identifier for identifying a group in which wireless communication is to be performed is stored, and a third area in which arbitrary information can be stored. And the area. The method includes obtaining data to be transmitted, storing dummy information different from identification information in a first area, storing a network identifier in a second area, and identifying in a third area Storing information corresponding to the information and modulating and transmitting the generated data frame.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent unauthorized use of a system by a third party other than a specific user in a positioning system using wireless communication.

It is a figure for demonstrating the outline | summary of the position positioning system according to this Embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the method of position specification in a position positioning system. It is a functional block diagram for demonstrating the function of the access point in this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the beacon frame used by the IEEE802.11 standard. It is a figure for demonstrating the beacon frame used in this Embodiment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the transmission process performed with the transmission circuit according to this Embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the example of the position positioning system which has the management server which manages each access point.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will not be repeated.

[Outline of positioning system]
FIG. 1 is a diagram for describing an overview of a position positioning system 10 according to the present embodiment. With reference to FIG. 1, the positioning system 10 includes a plurality of transmission devices 100, 200, 300, 400). Each transmission device is an access point that conforms to the IEEE 802.11 standard, and is installed in advance in a specific area indoors and / or outdoors, such as an underground mall, an airport, a station, or a building. Each access point can communicate with a mobile terminal device (hereinafter also simply referred to as “terminal device”) 500 such as a mobile phone owned by the user by a wireless LAN using a data frame compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard. it can.

  The position positioning system 10 according to the present embodiment specifies the position of the terminal device 500 owned by a specific user contracted in advance in the specific area as described above by the following method.

  A user who has contracted to use the position positioning system 10 downloads an application for using the position positioning system 10 from a server (not shown) to the terminal device 500 using an Internet line or the like.

  The downloaded application includes map information of an area to which the position positioning system 10 is applied. Further, the map information includes identification information and position information of each access point 100, 200, 300, 400 installed in the area.

  Each access point transmits a beacon frame at regular intervals in order to notify the terminal device 500 in the area of its existence. This beacon frame is one of data frames conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standard, and unique identification information (ID information) assigned in advance to each access point is stored in the data frame, as will be described later. The Therefore, the terminal device 500 that has received the beacon frame can recognize from which access point in the area the beacon frame is transmitted by analyzing the ID information stored in the beacon frame. it can.

  The terminal device 500 determines the distance from each access point based on the radio wave intensity of the received beacon frame or the arrival time of the radio wave determined from the transmission time stored in the beacon frame and the reception time at the terminal device 500. Calculate.

  As described above, the terminal device 500 has position information of each access point in an area to which the position positioning system 10 is applied. Therefore, by acquiring the distance to at least three access points in the area for two-dimensional positioning, and the distance to at least four access points for three-dimensional positioning, for example, using the principle of triangulation, The position of the terminal device 500 in the area can be specified.

  FIG. 2 schematically shows the position detection method described above. The terminal device 500 has map information MAP as shown in FIG. 2 in advance. In the map information MAP, when the terminal device 500 receives a beacon frame from the access points 100, 200, 300, for example, the terminal device 500 determines each access point 100, 200, Each distance L1, L2, L3 up to 300 is obtained by calculation.

  In the terminal device 500, since the positions of the access points 100, 200, and 300 in the map information MAP are known in advance, the current position of the terminal device 500 is indicated by P in FIG. 2 from these distances L1, L2, and L3. It can be identified.

[Access point configuration]
Next, an access point will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram for explaining the function of the access point in the present embodiment. Since the basic configurations of the access points 100, 200, 300, and 400 are the same, the access point 100 will be described as a representative in FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 3, access point 100 includes an antenna 110, a transmission circuit 120, a reception circuit 130, and a main control unit 140.

  The antenna 110 converts the electric signal transmitted from the transmission circuit 120 into a radio wave and transmits it to another access point or a terminal device. The antenna 110 receives radio waves from other access points and terminal devices, converts them into electric signals, and transmits them to the receiving circuit 130.

  The main control unit 140 is a control device that comprehensively manages data transmission / reception in the access point 100, and is configured by, for example, a microprocessor. The main control unit 140 outputs data to be transmitted to other access points and terminal devices to the transmission circuit 120. Further, the main control unit 140 receives data received from other access points or terminal devices restored by the receiving circuit 130. The main control unit 140 performs processing according to the received data. In addition, the main control unit 140 transmits data corresponding to the received data to other access points or terminal devices that transmitted the data as necessary.

  The transmission circuit 120 includes a transmission unit 121, a signal modulation unit 122, a protocol control unit 123, and a data conversion unit 124. The reception circuit 130 includes a reception unit 131, a signal demodulation unit 132, a protocol control unit 133, and a data restoration unit 134.

  The transmission circuit 120 is a circuit for converting data from the main control unit 140 into a signal that can be transmitted by the antenna 110.

  The data conversion unit 124 stores various data from the main control unit 140 in a predetermined data frame that conforms to the IEEE 802.11 standard, and converts the data into a series of data strings. The data conversion unit 124 outputs the converted data string to the protocol control unit 123.

  The protocol control unit 123 has a function of managing and controlling a communication protocol. The protocol control unit 123 performs communication according to a predetermined procedure in cooperation with the protocol control unit 133 on the receiving circuit 130 side as necessary. Specifically, ID information unique to the access point, a destination address, etc. are set, or handshake processing with a communication partner is performed.

  The signal modulation unit 122 receives a data string to be transmitted from the protocol control unit 123. Then, the signal modulation unit 122 modulates the data string into a signal wave for superimposing on the transmission wave transmitted by the antenna 110.

  The transmission unit 121 receives the signal wave of the data string modulated by the signal modulation unit 122, superimposes the signal wave on the transmission wave, and outputs the signal wave to the antenna 110.

  The receiving circuit 130 is a circuit for restoring a signal received by the antenna 110 and converting it into data that can be processed by the main control unit 140.

  The receiving unit 131 receives a signal received by the antenna 110 and outputs a signal wave obtained by separating a carrier wave from the received signal to the signal demodulating unit 132. The signal demodulator 132 receives the signal wave from the receiver 131 and demodulates the signal wave to generate a data string.

  The protocol control unit 133 manages and controls the communication protocol, similar to the protocol control unit 123 in the transmission circuit 120. The protocol control unit 133 determines the transmission source from the stored ID information and determines whether or not the received signal is for the access point 100. If the signal is to be received by the access point 100, the protocol control unit 133 outputs the received data string to the data restoration unit 134. When the communication procedure is different from a predetermined one, or when the access point is not a signal to be received, for example, the received data string is discarded.

  The data restoration unit 134 receives the data string from the protocol control unit 133, extracts individual data from the data string, and outputs it to the main control unit 140.

  In FIG. 3, the main control unit 140 is illustrated as an example of a configuration independent of the transmission circuit 120 and the reception circuit 130, but some or all of the functions of the main control unit 140 are transmitted. The configuration may be included in the circuit 120 and / or the reception circuit 130. Alternatively, the main control unit 140 may be provided in a device separate from the access point 100, and the access point may include only the functions of the transmission circuit 120 and the reception circuit 130.

  3 illustrates an example in which the protocol control unit 123 in the transmission circuit 120 and the protocol control unit 133 in the reception circuit 130 are configured separately, but both the protocol control units 123 and 133 are used. It may be configured as a single unit having the above functions.

  The functions of the transmission circuit 120 and the reception circuit 130 described above may be executed by software, or may be executed by hardware using an electronic circuit. Further, the transmission circuit 120 and the reception circuit 130 may be constructed as an integrated circuit as necessary.

[Data frame setting method]
In the position positioning system using such wireless communication, as described above, the terminal device determines the position of the terminal device itself based on the received radio wave intensity and arrival time of the beacon frame received from each access point. Therefore, the beacon frame includes ID information unique to each access point that is the transmission source so that the transmission source of the received beacon frame can be recognized in the terminal device.

  FIG. 4 shows an outline of a general data frame format conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standard. Referring to FIG. 4, a data frame includes a header part for storing information used for protocol control, a data part for storing various arbitrary data, an FCS part for checking frame errors, including.

  In this header portion, ID information uniquely assigned to a device such as a MAC address (Media Access Control Address) is generally stored as information for identifying a transmission source.

  In the example of FIG. 4, for example, in the access point (AP1), the MAC address “00: 11: 22: 33: 44: 01” unique to AP1 is stored in the source address and / or BSSID area. On the other hand, for AP2, the MAC address “00: 11: 22: 33: 44: 02” unique to AP2 is stored.

  Since the beacon frame used in the position measurement system needs to be received by an unspecified number of devices, the destination address of the partner that receives the beacon frame may not be set. In other words, this beacon frame can be received by any receiving apparatus capable of communication in conformity with the IEEE 802.11 standard.

  Therefore, even a user of a terminal device that has not subscribed to the position positioning system can recognize the MAC address of the access point used in the position positioning system. If it does so, there exists a possibility that an access point may be utilized without permission by the user who does not have such a use contract. If such a situation occurs, the use of the system by non-contractors may prevail, and as a result, there may be inconveniences such as the expense of maintaining such a positioning system cannot be recovered. There is.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, a dummy address different from the original MAC address is stored and transmitted in an area (for example, a transmission source address, BSSID, etc.) where ID information specific to a normal access point is stored in a beacon frame. In a normal procedure, a transmission method is adopted so that the ID information of the transmission source cannot be recognized on the reception side.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a beacon frame used in the transmission circuit according to the present embodiment. In the example of the beacon frame in FIG. 5, in both AP1 and AP2, the common dummy address “aa: bb: cc: dd: ee: ff” is stored in the source address and BSSID areas of the header part. Is done.

  In the present embodiment, a VSIE (Vendor Specific Information Element) area is generated in a part of the data part for storing arbitrary data, and a true MAC address unique to the access point is stored in the VSIE area. If necessary, this MAC address may be stored in an encrypted state.

  In such a beacon frame, the unique ID information of the access point cannot be read out in a normal procedure, but for a specific use contractor, a dedicated application for reading out the ID information stored in this VSIE area It is possible to acquire true ID information by distributing.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, other information for specifying the access point corresponding to the MAC address can be used without directly storing the MAC address in the VSIE area. In this case, the correspondence between the other information and the access point is determined in the application dedicated to the use contractor.

  In the above example, the case where the same dummy address is used in each application has been described. However, the setting of the dummy address is not limited to this. For example, if each access point cannot be specified, a different dummy address may be set for the access point. In addition, the dummy address is not limited to a fixed address, and a different address may be set for each transmission, or the address may be changed every predetermined period such as every day or every week.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a transmission process executed by the transmission circuit 120 of the access point 100 shown in FIG. In the flowchart described in FIG. 6, the processing is realized by a program stored in advance in the transmission circuit 120 being called from the main routine and executed in a predetermined cycle. Alternatively, for some steps, processing can be realized by dedicated hardware (electronic circuit).

  Referring to FIGS. 3 and 6, transmission circuit 120 obtains data to be transmitted from main control unit 140 at step (hereinafter abbreviated as S) 100 and stores it in the data portion of the data frame. To do.

  Next, in S110, the transmission circuit 120 stores a dummy address different from the MAC address of the access point in an area for storing the transmission source address and BSSID in the header portion of the data frame.

  In S120, the transmission circuit 120 encrypts and stores the MAC address of the access point in the VSIE area in the data part.

  Thereafter, the transmission circuit 120 modulates the generated data frame (S130), and transmits data to the terminal device or the like via the antenna 110 (S140).

  Thus, in this embodiment, when a beacon frame is transmitted using a predetermined data frame format in a positioning system using a wireless LAN, dummy information is stored in an area where ID information is to be stored. In addition to storing, the original ID information is stored in an area for storing arbitrary data and transmitted. As a result, it is possible to prevent ID information for identifying an access point used in the positioning system from being recognized in a terminal device owned by a third party other than a specific use contractor. It is possible to prevent the position measurement system from being used without permission by a third party.

[Modification of positioning system]
In the position positioning system 10 of FIG. 1 described above, the configuration in which each access point 100, 200, 300, 400, which is a transmission device, operates independently has been described as an example, but the configuration of the position positioning system is such a configuration. It is not limited to.

  For example, in the position positioning system 10A shown in FIG. 7, a management server 600 for managing each access point in an integrated manner is provided. The management server 600 and each access point 100, 200, 300, 400 are connected to the wired LAN 610 and configured to be able to exchange information with each other through the wired LAN 610.

  In such a configuration, for example, by performing the function of the main control unit 140 in FIG. 3 with the management server 600, each access point can have a simple configuration of only a transmission / reception circuit, There is an advantage that settings / changes, system changes, and the like can be collectively performed by the management server 600.

  On the other hand, since the management server 600 is provided separately or a wired LAN needs to be laid, there is a possibility that the installation cost of the device increases. Further, when extending the range covered by the system, it is necessary to extend the wired LAN or change the system of the management server 600, which may not be suitable for a large-scale system.

  As described above, the configuration as shown in FIG. 1 or the configuration as shown in FIG. 7 is appropriately determined in consideration of a required system scale, a future expansion plan, and the like.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the wireless communication between the transmission device and the terminal device is performed by a wireless LAN compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard has been described as an example. It is not limited to. That is, the method of this embodiment is applied to any communication in which information is transmitted from the transmission device to the terminal device using a data frame in which the storage location of the unique ID information of the transmission device is determined in advance. Is possible.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

  10, 10A Positioning system, 100, 200, 300, 400 Transmitter, 110 Antenna, 120 Transmitter circuit, 121 Transmitter, 122 Signal modulator, 123, 133 Protocol controller, 124 Data converter, 130 Receiver, 131 Receiving unit, 132 signal demodulating unit, 134 data restoring unit, 140 main control unit, 500 terminal device, 600 management server, 610 wired LAN.

Claims (12)

In a position positioning system for specifying the position of the terminal device by a terminal device owned by a user using wireless communication, included in a transmission device that transmits data used to specify the position of the terminal device to the terminal device A transmission circuit comprising:
A data generation unit for generating the data to be transmitted to the terminal device according to a predetermined data frame format;
A transmitter that transmits the generated data via an antenna included in the transmitter;
In the transmission circuit, unique identification information for distinguishing it from a transmission circuit included in another transmission device is set in advance,
The data frame can store arbitrary information , a first area in which the identification information is to be stored , a second area in which a network identifier for identifying a group in which wireless communication is to be performed is stored, and the like. A third region,
The data generation unit stores dummy information different from the identification information in the first area, stores the network identifier in the second area, and corresponds to the identification information in the third area A transmission circuit that stores the received information.   The transmission circuit according to claim 1, wherein the dummy information is set in common with at least one other transmission circuit. The transmission circuit according to claim 1, wherein the data generation unit encrypts the identification information and stores the encrypted information in the third area.   The transmission circuit according to claim 1, wherein the transmission device is an access point used in a wireless LAN compliant with IEEE802.11.   The transmission circuit according to claim 1, wherein the data frame is a beacon frame used in a wireless LAN compliant with IEEE802.11.   The transmission circuit according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device specifies a position of the terminal device based on data from at least three transmission devices.   An integrated circuit in which the transmission circuit according to claim 1 is integrated. In a positioning system for specifying the position of the terminal device by a terminal device owned by a user using wireless communication, the transmitting device transmits data used for specifying the position of the terminal device to the terminal device. And
An antenna,
A data generation unit for generating the data to be transmitted to the terminal device according to a predetermined data frame format;
A transmission unit for transmitting the generated data via the antenna;
In the transmission device, unique identification information for distinguishing from other transmission devices is preset,
The data frame can store arbitrary information , a first area in which the identification information is to be stored , a second area in which a network identifier for identifying a group in which wireless communication is to be performed is stored, and the like. A third region,
The data generation unit stores dummy information different from the identification information in the first area, stores the network identifier in the second area, and corresponds to the identification information in the third area A transmission device that stores the received information. A position positioning system for specifying a position of the terminal device in a terminal device owned by a user using wireless communication,
A plurality of transmission devices for transmitting data used for specifying the location of the terminal device to the terminal device;
Each of the plurality of transmission devices is
An antenna,
A data generation unit for generating the data to be transmitted to the terminal device according to a predetermined data frame format;
A transmission unit for transmitting the generated data via the antenna;
In each of the plurality of transmission devices, unique identification information for distinguishing from other transmission devices is preset,
The data frame can store arbitrary information , a first area in which the identification information is to be stored , a second area in which a network identifier for identifying a group in which wireless communication is to be performed is stored, and the like. A third region,
The data generation unit stores dummy information different from the identification information in the first area, stores the network identifier in the second area, and corresponds to the identification information in the third area Positioning system that stores information that has been processed. The terminal device has map information in which installation positions of the plurality of transmission devices are preset,
The terminal device uses the distance from the terminal device to each of the plurality of transmission devices, which is determined based on the reception strength of the data from the plurality of transmission devices and the identification information, in the map information. The position positioning system according to claim 9, wherein the position of the terminal device is specified.   The position positioning system according to claim 9, further comprising a management device for managing the plurality of transmission devices. In a position positioning system for specifying the position of the terminal device in a terminal device owned by a user using wireless communication, a method of transmitting data by a transmission device included in the position positioning system,
The data is stored in a predetermined data frame format;
In the transmission device, unique identification information for distinguishing from other transmission devices is preset,
The data frame can store arbitrary information , a first area in which the identification information is to be stored , a second area in which a network identifier for identifying a group in which wireless communication is to be performed is stored, and the like. A third region,
The method
Obtaining the data to be transmitted;
Storing dummy information different from the identification information in the first area;
Storing the network identifier in the second area;
Storing information corresponding to the identification information in the third area;
Modulating and transmitting the generated data frame.

Images