JP6285151B2 - Wireless LAN access point, communication area setting method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless LAN access point and a communication area setting method.

  It is known to perform communication by connecting a handset terminal such as a smartphone or a notebook computer having a wireless LAN function to a wireless LAN access point installed indoors or outdoors.

  Access points that support wireless LAN (IEEE802.11a / b / g / n / ac) systems are designed to meet the maximum transmission output in accordance with the radio laws and regulations of each country. The present situation is that communication is possible up to an area far wider than the assumed communication area (communication range) (approximately 100 to 200 m). The wider the communicable area, the more convenient it is that more child device terminals (child devices) can be connected to the wireless LAN access point.

  However, when the wireless LAN access point can recognize many slave units and the security (encryption) key of the wireless LAN access point is not set, an unspecified number of slave units can be connected to the wireless LAN access point. There is a case. Then, the communication quality of the slave unit located at a long distance is deteriorated, and the communication rate in communication with the slave unit is lowered. If the state where the connection can be made at such a low communication rate continues, the resources of the entire system are left. In other words, when viewed in chronological order, the effective use of the system is hindered, and the communication quality of the slave unit that wants to benefit from high-speed communication is impaired.

  Thus, it is not always necessary that the communicable area is large. Some public wireless LANs (hotspots) limit the communication area, and there are users who want to provide high-speed communication services to slave units located near the hotspot (for example, telecommunications carriers, event dealers, stores, etc.) That is certain.

  As a method for limiting the communication area, there are methods described in Patent Documents 1 to 3.

  In Patent Document 1, the communication area is changed by controlling the antenna power of the wireless LAN access point at the communication rate at which the communication between the wireless LAN access point and the wireless LAN slave unit is successful.

  In Patent Document 2, the maximum transmission power allowed for a radio station is determined from a prescribed value of radio wave restriction, and a communication area covered by one base station is estimated based on the maximum transmission power.

  In Patent Document 3, the communication area is limited by using an antenna that limits the communication area.

JP 2012-175127 A JP 2004-140720 A JP 2013-77996 A

  However, the methods described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 have the following problems. That is, in the methods described in Patent Documents 1 to 3, the communication area is limited by controlling the transmission output of the wireless LAN access point itself. Since the transmission output gradually attenuates according to the distance to the handset, the connection between the handset that the user does not want to connect to, that is, the handset outside the communication area that the user wants to limit, and the wireless LAN access point is completely connected. It may not be cut. In this case, a state in which connection with the slave unit can be established at a low communication rate continues, and resources of the entire system are left. That is, there are problems in ensuring communication quality and effective use of system resources.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless LAN access point and a communication area setting method for solving the above-described problems.

  The wireless LAN access point of the present invention includes a transmission unit that transmits a packet to a slave unit having a wireless LAN communication function, a reception unit that receives a response to the packet from the slave unit, and a slave unit that is received by the reception unit. A setting unit that sets a lower limit of a communication rate in communication with the slave unit in response to the response.

  The wireless LAN access point of the present invention is a wireless LAN access point capable of communicating with a slave having a wireless LAN communication function, and is estimated based on attenuation data in a free space corresponding to a preset communication distance. A setting unit configured to calculate an attenuation amount and set a lower limit of a communication rate in communication with the child device based on the calculated estimated attenuation amount;

  The communication area setting method of the present invention includes a transmission step of transmitting a packet to a slave unit having a wireless LAN communication function, a reception step of receiving a response to the packet from the slave unit, and a slave unit received in the reception step. And a setting step for setting a lower limit of a communication rate in communication with the slave unit according to the response.

  The communication area setting method of the present invention provides an estimated attenuation amount based on attenuation data in a free space corresponding to a preset communication area at a wireless LAN access point capable of communicating with a slave having a wireless LAN communication function. And a setting step for setting a lower limit of a communication rate in communication with the slave unit based on the calculated estimated attenuation amount.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a wireless LAN access point and a communication area setting method capable of restricting a communication area, ensuring sufficient communication quality in the communication area, and effectively utilizing system resources. .

1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a wireless LAN access point 100 according to a first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the communication system 1000 concerning 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the communication system 1000 concerning 1st Embodiment. Table 4-1 shows a communication rate table before setting the communication area, and Table 4-2 shows a communication rate table after setting the communication area. It is a figure which shows the structure of the wireless LAN access point 110 concerning 2nd Embodiment. (A) is a flowchart explaining the operation of the wireless LAN access point 110, (b) is a graph showing an estimated attenuation, and (c) is a formula for calculating a limit communication rate. It is the communication rate table 6D concerning 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the wireless LAN access point 120 concerning 3rd Embodiment. It is the communication rate table 8 of each mode concerning 3rd Embodiment.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a wireless LAN access point 100 according to the first embodiment. The wireless LAN access point 100 can be connected to a slave unit having a wireless LAN communication function, and includes a transmission unit 10, a reception unit 11, and a setting unit 12.

  The transmission part 10 has a function which transmits a packet to a subunit | mobile_unit.

  The receiving unit 11 has a function of receiving a response (ACK) to the packet from the slave unit.

  The setting unit 12 has a function of setting a lower limit of a communication rate with the child device according to a response (ACK) from the child device.

  Next, the operation of the communication system 1000 using the wireless LAN access point 100 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the communication system 1000. The communication system 1000 includes a wireless LAN access point 100 and a slave device 200.

  For example, the wireless LAN access point 100 can be installed indoors, such as a general house, an apartment house, and a wide hall, or outdoors in a frequency band approved for outdoor use.

  As the handset 200, for example, a terminal having a wireless LAN communication function such as a smartphone or a notebook computer is used.

  In the present embodiment, a method in which a user of a wireless LAN access point 100 (for example, a communication carrier, an event dealer, a store, etc.) manually sets a communicable area of the wireless LAN access point 100 will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the communication system 1000.

  The user sets the wireless LAN access point 100 to the “communication range setting” mode in order to set the communicable area (step 3-1). Thereafter, the user moves to a point 210 that is one of the boundary points of the desired communicable area (communication area) 300 with the handset 200 and starts a communication quality test (step 3-2). This communication quality test is performed for all modes in which the installed wireless LAN access point 100 can communicate. The modes are 11b, 11g, 11n (HT20 / 40 mode) of 2GHz band compliant with IEEE802.11, 11a, 11n (HT20 / 40 mode), 11ac (VHT20 / 40/80 mode) of 5GHz band. is there.

  In the present embodiment, as an example, an operation when performing a communication quality test from the 11ac VHT80 mode will be described. The transmission unit 10 of the wireless LAN access point 100 transmits packets in the VHT80 mode to the slave device 200 in order from the MCS0 rate (low rate) to the MCS9 rate (high rate) (step 3-3). The receiving unit 11 receives a response (ACK) from the child device 200 in the receiving state. Then, the setting unit 12 confirms at which communication rate there is a response (ACK) from the child device 200 (step 3-4). If there is no reception ACK at any communication rate (Yes in step 3-4), the lower limit of the communication rate is set to MCS0 (step 3-5). However, in this case, the communication rate is not limited, which means that the communicable area is very large.

  When the response (ACK) from the child device 200 is received (No in Step 3-4), the setting unit 12 checks the communication rate of the received ACK (Step 3-6). In this embodiment, there is no response at the MCS0 to MCS2 rates, and it is assumed that a response (ACK) equal to or higher than the MCS3 rate has been received, and the lower limit setting of the communication rate is set to MCS3 (step 3-7). Thereby, the setting of the communication area in the VHT80 mode is completed (step 3-8).

  Subsequently, a test in the HT40 mode is performed in the same flow (step 3-9). Since there is no response at the MCS0 to MCS3 rates and there is a response (ACK) greater than or equal to the MCS4 rate, the lower limit setting of the communication rate is set to MCS4 (step 3-10). Further, the lower limit setting is set to MCS5 (step 3-12) in the HT20 mode test (step 3-11), and the lower limit setting is set to 48 Mbps in the 11a mode test (step 3-13) (step 3-). 14). When the installed wireless LAN access point 100 can communicate in the 2 GHz band and the 5 GHz band, the lower limit setting of the communication rate at the point 210 is completed by performing a test on both bands (step 3-15). Similar settings may be performed at a plurality of points 220, 230, and 240 (step 3-16). The transmission output of the wireless LAN access point 100 is constant in the communication area setting described above.

  FIG. 4 is an example of a communication rate table before and after the user of the wireless LAN access point 100 sets a communicable area. Table 4-1 shows a communication rate table before setting a communicable area, and table 4-2 shows a communication rate table after setting.

  In Table 4-1, all communication rates can be selected. On the other hand, in Table 4-2 after setting the communicable area, the lower limit rate is set in each communication mode, and the communication rate that is hatched from the wireless LAN access point 100 is selected. Cannot be sent.

  The wireless LAN access point according to the present embodiment has a setting unit that sets a lower limit of a communication rate in communication with the child device according to a response from the child device, and sets a lower limit of the communication rate. Limit the communicable area. Thereby, sufficient communication quality can be ensured for the slave units within the communicable area set by the user. On the other hand, since it is not possible to ensure sufficient communication quality for the slave units outside the communicable area, the connection can be limited. For this reason, for example, a high-speed communication service can be provided only to people who come to an event venue or a specific store. In this case, since the wireless LAN access point is in a state where it can be connected to the slave in the communicable area at a high communication rate, the resources of the entire system can be used effectively.

  Further, in the method of limiting the communication area by controlling the transmission output of the wireless LAN access point itself as described in Patent Documents 1 to 3, the transmission output of the wireless LAN access point is related to one slave unit. If this is changed, communication with other slave units existing in the same communication area will be affected. On the other hand, in the wireless LAN access point according to the present embodiment, the communication area is limited by limiting the communication rate, so that the communication quality with other slave units existing in the same communication area is not affected. Absent. That is, communication can be continued while effectively utilizing system resources with a slave unit that can ensure sufficient communication quality.

[Second Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, the communication area is set manually by a user using a slave unit. However, in this embodiment, the communication area is set via a Web page or the like for setting the detailed operation of the wireless LAN access point. A configuration to be set will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of the wireless LAN access point 110 according to the present embodiment. The wireless LAN access point 110 has a setting unit 12a.

  The operation of the setting unit 12a will be described with reference to FIG. (A) is a flowchart explaining the operation of the wireless LAN access point 110, (b) is an attenuation graph (attenuation data) in the free space of the wireless LAN access point, and (c) is a lower limit of the communication rate. It is a calculation formula when doing.

  First, the user of the wireless LAN access point 110 sets the communication distance (communication area) in the 5 GHz band to “150 m” from the setting Web page of the wireless LAN access point 110, and the setting unit 12a accepts this (Step S12). 5-1). The setting unit 12a calculates an estimated attenuation 92dB in the communication area 150m from an attenuation graph (FIG. 6B) in a known free space stored in a storage unit (not shown), for example (step 5- 2). The setting unit 12a recognizes that the transmission output level of the wireless LAN access point 110 is set to +15 dBm. Therefore, the limit communication rate in each communication mode is determined to be 48 Mbps at 11a, MCS5 at HT20 (VHT20), MCS4 at HT40 (VHT40), and MCS3 at VHT80 according to Equation 1 (FIG. 6C) (step 5-3). ). From these, the communication rate table 6D (FIG. 7) corresponding to the communication area 150m set by the user is created (step 5-4). By using a communication rate without diagonal lines in the table 6D, it is possible to limit the communication area.

  According to the wireless LAN access point 110 according to the present embodiment, a user can set a communication area in advance by a method different from that of the first embodiment, and can be limited to communication with a child device existing in the area. . By limiting the communicable area by setting the lower limit of the communication rate, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained, and the communication area can be changed via a Web page for setting the detailed operation of the wireless LAN access point. By setting, versatility increases.

[Third Embodiment]
In the present embodiment, a configuration in which the wireless LAN access point autonomously controls the communicable area set by the user in the first and second embodiments will be described.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of the wireless LAN access point 120 according to the present embodiment. When the wireless LAN access point 120 communicates with each slave unit, the wireless LAN access point 120 sets the transmission speed of transmission by the method described in the first and second embodiments and transmits data. Therefore, the communication rate used at the time of communication is known. The wireless LAN access point 120 according to the present embodiment further includes a storage unit 13 in the wireless LAN access points 100 and 110 according to the first and second embodiments. FIG. 8 shows a configuration in which a storage unit is further provided in the wireless LAN access point 100 according to the first embodiment. The configurations of the transmission unit 10 and the reception unit 11 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  The accumulation unit 13 has a function of accumulating the communication rate used during communication as “communication quality statistical information”.

  FIG. 9 is a table 8 showing “communication quality statistical information” stored in the storage unit 13 after using the wireless LAN network for a certain period of time. In the table 8, each communication rate in each communication mode and the number of times the communication rate is used (number of times of communication) are stored in association with each other. A communication rate with a large number of communications indicates that it is frequently used. For example, when there are many video transmissions / receptions, the number of communication with a high communication rate increases. On the other hand, a communication rate with a small number of communication is not often used, that is, a communication rate that is not necessary in this wireless LAN network.

  The setting unit 12b monitors from the high communication rate in each communication mode, and confirms whether or not the number of communication at the low communication rate is 10% or less of the number of communication at the high communication rate. If it is 10% or less, the communication rate equal to or lower than the communication rate is changed to unusable.

  In FIG. 9, in the 11a mode (8-1), the communication frequency is 36 Mbps or less, and in the 11n HT20 (VHT20) mode (8-2), the number of communication is less than MCS4, and the unusable rate. However, this is the same restriction as the case where the user sets in the “communication range setting” mode in the first embodiment. On the other hand, in the HT40 (VHT40) mode (8-3), the number of communications of MCS5 or less is 10% or less of MCS6 communications. In this case, MCS4 and MCS5 are newly updated to be unusable in addition to the restriction that communication is not possible up to MCS3, which is a restriction when the user sets in the “communication range setting” mode. Similarly, in the VHT80 mode (8-4), MCS3 and MCS4 are newly updated to be unusable in addition to the restriction that communication is not possible up to MCS2, which is a restriction when the user sets in the “communication range setting” mode.

  The wireless LAN access point 120 according to the present embodiment can autonomously update the communicable area set in advance by the user based on the subsequent communication state (communication quality statistical information). Can be changed.

  In the above description, the configuration in which the wireless LAN access point autonomously controls the communicable area set by the user in the first embodiment has been described. However, the same effect can be obtained by combining with the second embodiment. can get.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, Of course, unless it deviates from the meaning of this invention, another modification and an application example are included. .

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Transmission part 11 Reception part 12, 12a, 12b Setting part 13 Accumulation part 100, 110, 120 Wireless LAN access point 200 Child machine 210, 220, 230, 240 Point 300 Communication area (communication area)
1000 Communication system

Claims (8)

A transmission unit for transmitting packets to a slave unit having a wireless LAN communication function at a plurality of communication rates ;
A receiving unit for receiving a response to the packet from the slave unit;
A setting unit configured to set the lower limit of the communication rate in the communication with the slave unit according to the communication rate of the response from the slave unit received by the receiver,
For each of the communication rates, a storage unit that stores the number of times the communication rate was actually used during the communication;
I have a,
The setting unit further updates the lower limit of the communication rate based on the number of times.
Wireless LAN access point.   The setting unit sets the lowest communication rate in the communication rate of the response from the slave unit to the lower limit in the communication with the slave unit.
The wireless LAN access point according to claim 1.   When the number of times satisfies a predetermined condition, the setting unit updates the communication rate corresponding to the number of times and the communication rate lower than the communication rate to be unusable.
The wireless LAN access point according to claim 1 or 2.   The condition is that the number of times of the communication rate is equal to or less than a predetermined ratio of the number of times of the communication rate that is one-stage high speed.
The wireless LAN access point according to claim 3. And it transmits the packet with a plurality of communication rates to the child device having a wireless LAN communication function,
Receiving a response to the packet from the slave unit,
Set the lower limit of the communication rate in the communication with the slave unit according to the communication rate of the response from the receiving to said handset,
For each of the communication rates, accumulate the number of times the communication rate was actually used during the communication;
Updating the lower limit of the communication rate based on the number of times;
Communication area setting method.   Setting the lowest communication rate among the communication rates of the response from the slave unit to the lower limit in the communication with the slave unit,
The communication area setting method according to claim 5.   When the number of times satisfies a predetermined condition, the communication rate corresponding to the number of times and the communication rate lower than the communication rate are updated to be unusable.
The communication area setting method according to claim 5 or 6.   The condition is that the number of times of the communication rate is equal to or less than a predetermined ratio of the number of times of the communication rate that is one-stage high speed.
The communication area setting method according to claim 7.

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