JP6426688B2 - Communication apparatus, control method, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to connection control for wireless communication.

  In recent years, places available for public wireless LAN, such as stations and commercial facilities, are increasing. In a public wireless LAN, for example, an access point (AP) establishes a connection with a terminal in response to a connection request from a terminal that has succeeded in authentication, and provides a wireless communication service. Here, the AP lists and manages terminals once connected, and provides a wireless communication service to the terminals included in the list.

  There is an upper limit to the number of terminals that can be included in the above-mentioned AP managed list, and the AP has reached the upper limit that can establish the connection with many terminals and the number of connected terminals can be stored in the list In this case, it becomes impossible to connect with another terminal to perform wireless communication. In ordinary home use, the number of terminals stored in such a list rarely reaches the upper limit. However, an AP that covers a range where many people pass, such as a station or a roadside, establishes a connection when it receives a connection request from a terminal owned by each of the many people, and thus an AP stored in the list. It can be said that the probability that the number will reach the upper limit is not low. Furthermore, for example, in a predetermined state such as when the backlight is turned on, the smartphone may turn on the wireless LAN function and transmit a connection request even when it is not necessary to actually communicate. For this reason, even if the terminal does not have to connect to the network to transmit and receive data, but merely passes through the range covered by the AP, the terminal establishes a connection with the AP. You can do it. Therefore, a large number of terminals that do not actually communicate are registered in the list, and as a result, there is a problem that the terminal of the user who wants to communicate can not establish a connection with the AP.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and prevents the establishment of unnecessary connections, and prevents or at least reduces the probability of occurrence of a state in which a connection can not be made from a user who desires to connect. With the goal.

  In order to achieve the above object, a communication apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention receives an accepting unit for receiving a request for establishing a connection from another apparatus, and receives a first request for establishing a connection from the other apparatus. In the case of establishing a predetermined number of connections from the other device during a first predetermined length of time after receiving the first request from the other device without receiving the first request. And control means for controlling the reception means to receive the second request when the second request is received.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the establishment of unnecessary connections, to prevent the occurrence of a state in which a connection from a user who desires a connection can not occur, or at least to reduce the probability of the occurrence.

The figure which shows the structural example of a radio | wireless communications system. The figure which shows the hardware structural example of AP. The figure which shows the function structural example of AP. The flowchart which shows the example of the flow of the processing which AP performs. The figure which shows the outline | summary of the process which AP performs.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Wireless communication system)
FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a wireless communication system according to the present embodiment. The wireless communication system of FIG. 1 passes through an access point 101 of a wireless LAN based on WiFi (registered trademark), a terminal device 102 staying in a communicable range of the access point (AP) 101 for at least a fixed period, and the range. A plurality of terminal devices 103 are included. In the present embodiment, a wireless communication system including a communication device that performs communication in a wireless LAN based on WiFi (registered trademark) will be described, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and any communication device that performs wireless communication by any method The following argument can be applied to Also, the AP 101 may be any communication device capable of establishing a connection with a plurality of other devices, such as a terminal device having an access point function, for example.

  The AP 101 transmits, for example, a beacon for finding itself, transmits a search response to a search request received from a terminal device that has found itself, and then authenticates the terminal device. Then, the AP 101 establishes a connection with the terminal device by receiving the connection request from the terminal device for which the authentication is successful and permitting the connection request. Here, the terminal devices 102 and 103 are communication devices, such as a smart phone, for example, and have a communication function in a wireless LAN. The terminal devices 102 and 103 may be, for example, terminals having only a communication function of a wireless LAN as a communication function, and may not necessarily be a smartphone. Here, when the terminal apparatuses 102 and 103 search for and find an AP having an ESS-ID (Extended Service Set Identifier) set by itself, the terminal apparatuses 102 and 103 transmit a connection request after authentication. The terminal devices 102 and 103 communicate in a predetermined first state that is not a low power consumption state, such as when the backlight is on or when a predetermined application is operating. Connection requests can be sent periodically if not necessary. Also, the terminal devices 102 and 103 can transmit the connection request even in the second predetermined case where the power consumption state is low, for example, when the backlight is off. However, in the second case, the cycle of transmission of the connection request can be made longer than in the first case. Also, the terminal devices 102 and 103 can repeatedly transmit the connection request two or more predetermined times at a time. For example, the terminal devices 102 and 103 transmit the connection request repeatedly twice, for example, at the timing when the period for transmitting the connection request starts, and then, in response to the arrival of the next period, the connection request is performed again. It may be configured to transmit twice repeatedly.

  The AP 101 registers and manages information on a terminal device that has established a connection in a list, and provides a wireless communication service to the terminal devices registered in the list. For example, in the state of FIG. 1, when the AP 101 establishes a connection with the terminal device 102, the AP 101 registers the information of the terminal device 102 in a list and provides a wireless communication service. The AP 101 can delete the information of the terminal apparatus 102 from the list, for example, when the period after the terminal apparatus 102 is registered in the list is not communicated after reaching a certain period. Thus, the AP 101 can provide wireless communication services to various terminal devices even if the number of terminal devices that can be registered in the list is limited as described above.

  However, for example, when the AP 101 is installed at a store along a busy road, when many terminals 103 enter a range connectable with the AP 101, many terminals request connection to the AP 101 It is assumed to send. At this time, when the user of the terminal device 103 moves, the user may leave the range connectable to the AP 101, and in fact, communication with the terminal device 103 may not be performed. For example, when the user turns on the backlight to check the time with the terminal device 103 (for example, a smartphone), the terminal device 103 is considered not to be in the low power consumption state and to transmit a connection request to the AP 101 . However, in this case, the user of the terminal device 103 does not want to actually communicate, and it is assumed that there is no data to be transmitted / received to the terminal device 103 either, so the connection is established. Even after that, there may not be communication. Also, although the terminal device 103 can transmit a connection request even in the low power consumption state, in this case as well, there may be cases where communication is not performed after connection is established.

  On the other hand, even in such a case, the AP 101 registers in the list the information of the terminal device 103 for which the connection has been established. Therefore, when the AP 101 establishes a connection with each of the terminal devices that have entered into a connectable range with itself, the number of the terminal devices registered in the list managed by the AP 101 increases accordingly, and registration is possible. It is assumed that the upper limit of the number of terminals is reached. In this case, even if the AP 101 enters a range in which another device can connect to itself and transmits a connection request, it can not accept it, and the information of any of the terminal devices is deleted from the list. Until that, the other device can not connect with the AP 101. For this reason, even if there is no terminal device in communication with the AP 101, for example, the AP 101 may not be able to provide the wireless communication service to another device. In this case, data communication may be performed. The convenience of the user of another device desired is lost.

  The AP 101 according to the present embodiment executes processing for coping with such an issue. Hereinafter, an exemplary configuration of such an AP 101 and an outline of processing executed by the AP 101 will be described.

(Configuration of AP101)
FIG. 2 shows an example of the hardware configuration of the AP 101. In one example, the AP 101 has a hardware configuration as illustrated in FIG. 2, and includes, for example, a CPU 201, a ROM 202, a RAM 203, an external storage device 204, and a communication device 205. In the AP 101, for example, a program stored in one of the ROM 202, the RAM 203, and the external storage device 204 for executing the functions of the AP 101 described later is executed by the CPU 201. The CPU 201 may be replaced by one or more processors such as an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit), an FPGA (field programmable gate array), and a DSP (digital signal processor).

  Then, the AP 101 controls the communication device 205 by, for example, the CPU 201 to perform communication with the terminal device. Although FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram in which the AP 101 includes one communication device 205, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the AP 101 may have a communication device for wired communication and a communication device for wireless communication.

  Note that the AP 101 may be provided with dedicated hardware for executing each function, or may execute part of the hardware and execute other parts on a computer that operates a program. Also, all functions may be performed by a computer and a program.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the functional configuration of the AP 101. The AP 101 includes, for example, a communication unit 301, a connection request receiving unit 302, a reception control unit 303, and a setting control unit 304. Note that these functional units can be realized, for example, by the above-described CPU 201 executing programs stored in, for example, any of the ROM 202, the RAM 203, and the external storage device 204.

  The communication unit 301 has a wireless communication function capable of wireless communication with at least a plurality of terminal devices. The communication unit 301 may have, for example, a wired communication function. When the communication unit 301 receives a connection request (for example, an Association request) from a terminal device, the connection request receiving unit 302 is a control unit that receives the connection request. The connection request accepting unit 302 accepts the connection request and registers the terminal device that has established the connection in the list. Then, the communication unit 301 can perform wireless communication with the terminal devices registered in the list.

  The reception control unit 303 controls the connection request reception unit 302 not to receive the connection request when the communication unit 301 receives the connection request for the first time from a terminal device that has not received the connection request so far. . In the specification and the appended claims, "not accepting connection request" means not only blocking reception of a physical connection request but also physically by receiving the connection request itself. It also includes not accepting further processing such as accepting a connection request but not responding to the received connection request. For example, while the connection request reception unit 302 is controlled to stop reception of at least a part of the connection request by the reception control unit 304, the connection request reception unit 302 does not respond to the at least part of the connection request. Do not accept requests. Then, the reception control unit 303 sets a first predetermined length period after the initial connection request from the terminal device, and when the connection request from the terminal device is received a predetermined number of times within that period, the connection The connection request receiving unit 302 is controlled to receive the request. The reception control unit 303 does not receive a connection request from the terminal device if the connection control is not received from the terminal device a predetermined number of times within the first predetermined length period. Control 302; Here, in the case where the reception control unit 303 has not received a predetermined number of connection requests from the terminal device within the first predetermined length period, the connection request received from the terminal device after that is the first connection request. Treat as connection request. The reception control unit 303 can set a second predetermined length period between the reception of the first connection request from the terminal device and the first predetermined length period. Then, the reception control unit 303 can control the connection request reception unit 302 so as not to receive a connection request from the terminal device during the period of the second predetermined length. In addition, the reception control unit 303 separately executes the above-described processing for one or more terminal devices.

  The setting control unit 304 performs control for setting the first predetermined length, the second predetermined length, and the predetermined number of times described above. The setting control unit 304 sets, for example, the first predetermined length described above based on a cycle in which a terminal device in a low power consumption state, such as when the backlight is off, transmits a connection request. For example, the first predetermined length is set shorter than the cycle in which the terminal device in the low power consumption state transmits a connection request. For example, in a state in which the user carries the terminal apparatus in a bag and carries out the communication without using the terminal apparatus, it can be said that the terminal apparatus is in a low power consumption state. By setting the first predetermined length shorter than the period in which the terminal device in the low power consumption state transmits the connection request, the probability that such a terminal device transmits the connection request again within the first predetermined length period is It will be very low. Therefore, it becomes possible to prevent such a terminal device which does not plan to communicate from connecting to the AP 101. Note that the setting control unit 304 can set the first predetermined length longer than the period in which the terminal device that is likely to communicate is not in the low power consumption state and transmits the connection request. Thus, it is possible to prevent that the terminal device which is to communicate can not transmit the connection request within the first predetermined length of time, and to prevent such a terminal device from being unable to connect to the AP 101.

  Further, when the terminal apparatus in the low power consumption state repeatedly transmits the connection request a fixed number of times at a time, the setting control unit 304 can set the above-mentioned predetermined number based on the fixed number. That is, in order to prevent a terminal apparatus that is in a low power consumption state and is considered not to communicate from connecting to the AP 101, the connection request can not be accepted by the above-mentioned fixed number of connection requests. The predetermined number of times is set to be For example, by making the predetermined number of times equal to the predetermined number of times, among the connection requests transmitted at one time, the first connection request is not accepted first, and is repeatedly transmitted following the first connection request (constant number -1) Connection requests will not be accepted. Therefore, unless a connection request from the terminal device is received, the connection request for the terminal device will not be accepted. In addition, for example, when setting the first predetermined length to be long, the setting control unit 304 may set the predetermined number large in accordance with this.

  Further, the setting control unit 304 can determine the second predetermined value based on, for example, the time from when a terminal apparatus not communicating with the mobile terminal enters a range connectable to the AP 101 until it leaves. That is, for example, the second predetermined value is determined based on the time required for the user holding the terminal device to pass through the range connectable to the AP 101. According to this, for example, in the case where the terminal device is not in the low power consumption state but does not communicate with the AP 101, for example, when the user only confirms the time using the terminal device, the connection request in the second predetermined value period Will be sent but not accepted. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a terminal device that does not intend to communicate in this way and is merely passing through a range connectable to the AP 101 from being connected to the AP 101.

  Note that the time required to pass through the range connectable to the AP 101 may be different depending on factors such as different walking speeds depending on the user. Therefore, the setting control unit 304 performs statistical processing by specifying the time required for the passage of a plurality of terminal devices, and determines a second predetermined value based on the value obtained as a result of the statistical processing. May be For example, the time at which a predetermined percentage of terminal devices such as 90% of terminal devices that have passed without communication may pass may be defined as a second predetermined value. Further, the setting control unit 304 may specify a peak value of the distribution of time required for the passage, and may determine a second predetermined value according to the peak value. The time corresponding to the peak value of the distribution is the time required for the largest proportion of terminal devices to enter and leave the range connectable to the AP 101. That is, the longer the time corresponding to the peak value of such a distribution, the more time it takes for a number of terminal devices to enter and leave the range connectable to the AP 101 and then to leave. For this reason, the setting control unit 304 increases the second predetermined value as the time corresponding to the peak value increases, in order to prevent the terminal device simply passing through the range connectable to the AP 101 from connecting to the AP 101. It can be set.

  Note that the setting control unit 304 may specify a time from when the terminal device enters a range connectable to the AP 101 until the terminal device leaves the area based on, for example, a period when the connection request can be received from the terminal device. . That is, while receiving a connection request from a certain terminal device, the terminal device is staying in a range connectable to the AP 101. Therefore, the setting control unit 304 specifies a period from the first reception of a connection request from each terminal device to the last reception as a time from entry into a range connectable to the AP 101 to departure. It can. Note that the setting control unit 304 can consider only the terminal device that has not communicated with the AP 101 in specifying this time. With regard to a terminal device that has communicated with the AP 101, it is assumed that there is a period of stationary or quasi-stationary state within the range, rather than merely passing through the range that can be connected to the AP 101. It may not be appropriate to estimate the time required for

  The setting control unit 304 specifies, based on the width of the range connectable to the AP 101, the predicted value of the time required to pass the range, and the second predetermined value is larger as the width of the range is wider. It can be set to be longer. For example, the setting control unit 304 passes the range based on the result of dividing the width of the range (for example, the longest diameter of the range or twice the average value of the distance from the AP 101) by the average moving speed. The expected value of the time required can be specified. In addition, for example, when AP101 is arranged in the station, the inside of the station is congested at peak times such as train entry, and the average moving speed of the user who owns the terminal device becomes slower. Tends to increase the average moving speed. Therefore, the setting control unit 304 may specify different predicted values depending on the time zone, and change the value of the second predetermined value accordingly. That is, since the time from entering into the range connectable to the AP 101 until leaving is likely to be longer at peak times than at non-peak times, the setting control unit 304 sets the second predetermined peak time. The length can be set longer.

(Flow of processing)
Subsequently, the flow of processing executed by the AP 101 will be described using FIG. 4. The AP 101 can execute the process of FIG. 4 for each terminal device. When the AP 101 receives a connection request for the first time from a certain terminal device that has not received a connection request (YES in S401), the AP 101 accepts the connection request from that terminal device for a second predetermined length period. It stops (S402). Thereafter, when the second predetermined length period has expired (YES in S403), the AP 101 then waits for a connection request from the terminal apparatus for the first predetermined length period (S404). When the AP 101 receives a predetermined number of connection requests (YES in S406) before the expiration of the second predetermined length period (NO in S405), the AP 101 receives the connection request (S407), and Establish a connection and terminate the process. The AP 101 returns the process to S401 in response to the deletion of the information on the terminal device from the list of terminal devices that have established the connection. In addition, the AP 101 returns the process to S401 also when the second predetermined length period has expired (YES in S405) without receiving the predetermined number of connection requests (NO in S406). Note that the processing of S402 to S403 may be omitted.

  Subsequently, an outline of processing executed by the AP 101 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 (A) and 5 (B). FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B show an example where the predetermined number of times is two. Further, FIG. 5A shows an example where the second predetermined length period is set, and FIG. 5B shows an example where the second predetermined length period is not set. There is.

  In the example of FIG. 5A, when the AP 101 receives the first connection request 501 from a certain terminal device, the AP 101 starts a period of a first predetermined length (reception control period 502) without receiving the connection request. The AP 101 does not accept the connection request received from the terminal device in the admission control period 502. In response to the elapse of the first predetermined length of time, the AP 101 ends the reception control period 502 and starts a second predetermined length period (reception allowance period 503). The AP 101 does not accept the connection request until the number of connection requests from the terminal device reaches the predetermined number, that is, twice, even in the acceptance permission period 503. On the other hand, the AP 101 receives the second connection request 504 received in the acceptance permission period 503, and establishes a connection with the terminal device. According to this, during the acceptance limit period 502, the terminal device which only passes through the range connectable to the AP 101 moves out of the range with high probability, and as a result, the terminal device which does not communicate to the AP 101 It can prevent connecting. On the other hand, for a terminal device that stays within the range and desires to communicate via the AP 101, for example, a connection can be established with the AP 101 in the acceptance permission period 503. For this reason, it is possible to prevent that the connection of the terminal device that desires communication can not be established by registering a large number of terminal devices that do not communicate in the list.

  In the example of FIG. 5B, when the AP 101 receives the connection request 501 for the first time from a certain terminal device, the AP 101 starts a second predetermined length period (acceptable acceptance period 503) without receiving the connection request. Then, when the AP 101 receives two (predetermined number of) connection requests from the terminal apparatus (except for the first connection request 501) from the terminal apparatus within the acceptance permission period 503, the AP 101 receives the second connection request 505. And establish a connection with the terminal device. According to this, for example, since the terminal device in the low power consumption state has a low probability of transmitting the connection request a predetermined number of times within the acceptance allowable period 503, the terminal device expected to not perform communication connects with the AP 101. The probability of establishing can be reduced. On the other hand, since a terminal device that desires communication without being in the low power consumption state transmits a plurality of connection requests in a short period, there is a high probability that a connection request will be accepted within the acceptance permission period 503. For this reason, it is prevented that the connection of the terminal device that desires communication can not be established because a large number of terminal devices that do not perform communication are registered in the list even by the processing shown in FIG. 5B. Can.

  As described above, according to the feature of the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent the establishment of unnecessary connection and to prevent the occurrence of a state in which connection from the user who desires connection can not occur or at least reduce the probability of the occurrence. it can.

  In addition, control for preventing establishment of unnecessary connection can also be executed in the terminal device. For example, the terminal device may be configured not to transmit a connection request to the AP when a predetermined condition (such as that it is expected that the perceived communication quality of the user may be deteriorated even when connecting to the AP) is satisfied.

  For example, when the terminal device switches the connection to the AP during communication by LTE or the like, an event may occur in which the perceived communication quality for the user of the terminal device is degraded, such as the communication being interrupted due to the switching of the connection. Therefore, in such a case, the terminal device may not transmit the connection request to the AP. For example, the terminal device acquires lighting state information (for example, on / off flag) of the backlight of the display screen (display) from the inside of the terminal device (for example, an operating system (OS)) by an application operating in the background. Then, the terminal device transmits the information to a predetermined server. When the server indicates that the information received from the terminal device indicates that the backlight of the terminal device is turned on, the user operates the terminal device, and the quality of communication experienced by the user is degraded even when connected to the AP It will be determined. Then, the server can transmit the determination result to the terminal device (for example, through a cellular network such as 3G or LTE). The terminal device may be configured not to transmit a connection request to the AP when it receives such a determination result from the server. In addition, the terminal device may acquire information of an application type (such as a video streaming viewing application) displayed on the top of the display screen of the terminal device, and may transmit the information to the server. In this case, the server determines, for example, whether the notified type of application is resistant to the interruption of communication. Then, the server may determine that the perceived communication quality does not deteriorate even if connected to the AP if it has resistance, and determines that the perceived communication quality is deteriorated if connected to the AP if it does not have resistance. In addition, the terminal device is not the application type, but acquires, for example, information on the throughput (for example, statistical values such as an average value or a moving average value for a predetermined period) regarding communication performed by the terminal device itself, and transmits the information to the server It may be sent. In this case, the server may determine that the perceived communication quality may be degraded due to connection switching, for example, when the throughput is higher than a predetermined value. The server transmits the determination result to the terminal device, and the terminal device determines whether to transmit a connection request to the AP according to the determination result. Note that the server may transmit, to the terminal device, not the determination result but an instruction as to whether or not the connection request should be transmitted. In this case, the terminal device can determine whether to transmit a connection request to the AP according to an instruction from the server.

  In addition, the terminal device can transmit its own position information (obtained using, for example, GPS or the like) to the server. For this transmission of position information, for example, positioning and reporting procedures used in the LTE standard may be diverted, or separate position information acquisition and reporting procedures may be defined. The server can determine whether or not the terminal device exists in a predetermined geographical area based on the notification of the position information from the terminal device, and can estimate the user's action pattern. For example, when the server determines that the terminal device is present in the vicinity of a predetermined railway line, it can be estimated that the user carries the terminal device and travels by train. Further, when the server determines that the terminal device is present in the vicinity of a predetermined motorway, it can be estimated that the user is carrying the terminal device and moving by a car. In other cases, the same determination may allow the server to estimate, based on the location information notified from the terminal device, an action pattern of whether or not the terminal device only passes the communicable range of the AP. . Then, in this case, the server determines that the quality of communication experienced by the user of the terminal device is degraded even if the server is connected to an AP disposed in the vicinity of the position where the terminal device exists (or at least improvement is not made) And the terminal device can be notified of the judgment result. The terminal device determines whether to transmit a connection request to the AP according to the determination result. Also in this case, the server transmits not the determination result but an instruction as to whether or not the connection request should be transmitted to the terminal device, and the terminal device transmits the connection request to the AP according to the instruction from the server. It may be determined whether to transmit or not.

  Note that the terminal device may transmit its position information to the server when it can connect to the AP (when it can transmit a connection request), or it may transmit position information to a server at a plurality of times. You may For example, at the time when the terminal device can connect to the AP, the terminal device may notify only the position information at that time to the server, or may collect position information for a predetermined period in the past from that time to the server. It may be notified. Also, the terminal device may periodically notify the server of its own position information at that time. Thereby, the server can estimate the behavior pattern of the user of the terminal device more accurately than in the case of acquiring only position information at one time point acquired from the terminal device. And according to this, it becomes possible to control more appropriately whether the terminal device transmits a connection request to the AP.

  Furthermore, the terminal device may transmit not only the position information but also the time information at which the position information is acquired to the server. The server can calculate, for example, the moving speed of the terminal apparatus based on the position information of the terminal apparatus and the corresponding time information, and estimate the behavior pattern of the user of the terminal apparatus based on the moving speed. For example, the server compares the calculated traveling speed with the speed of a train traveling on a predetermined railway route registered in advance in the server, and when the difference is within a predetermined range, the user operates the terminal device Can be determined to be moving by train. Similarly, the server compares the calculated moving speed with the moving speed of a car on a predetermined motorway, the average moving speed of a pedestrian, etc., and the user is walking or moving by car It is possible to estimate the behavior pattern of The terminal device may calculate the moving speed based on the information acquired from the acceleration sensor that the terminal device has, and may transmit the calculation result to the server.

  Furthermore, the server estimates that the user of the terminal device is in the stationary state or quasi-stationary state when the positions of the terminal device at a plurality of time points remain within the same position or in a predetermined area over a predetermined period. can do. For example, if the terminal device continues to stay in a predetermined area in the station beyond the time interval between train arrivals and departures, it is presumed that the terminal device is staying in the station's home or waiting room, etc. Can. In this case, the server can determine that the terminal device exists at a position where it can connect to the AP (for example, at least train arrival) for a certain period, and is not at least a terminal that only passes through the station. Therefore, the server can determine that this terminal apparatus should transmit (or may transmit) a connection request to the AP. In this case, the server transmits predetermined authentication information (for example, an ID / password, an electronic certificate, etc.) to the terminal device. Then, the terminal device transmits the predetermined authentication information to the AP, and the AP permits the response when the predetermined authentication information is received from the terminal device, whereby the terminal device can be connected to the above-described connection request. It may be excluded from the control target. As a result, it is possible to select from the terminal devices of the user who stay in the vicinity of the AP for a short period of time, a terminal device which should not only pass through the vicinity of the AP but should be permitted to connect to the AP.

  Thus, although examples of processing on the terminal device side have been described, these are merely examples, and the terminal device sends an AP to the AP based on the determination as to whether the perceived communication quality of the user of the terminal device may deteriorate. Any method of determining whether to send a connection request may be used. In addition, the examples of the above-described processes may be used individually or in combination. For example, when the backlight is on and the terminal device is in the stationary state or quasi-stationary state, the terminal device may be permitted to transmit a connection request. In addition, when transmission of the connection request of the terminal device is permitted, the predetermined authentication information may be transmitted from the terminal device to the server as described above, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the server may simply transmit (or transmit) the connection request to the terminal device without using such predetermined authentication information when transmission of the connection request of the terminal device is permitted. ) May be instructed. In this case, the server may instruct the terminal device not to transmit the connection request when the transmission of the terminal device connection request is not permitted.

  In the above description, an example has been described in which the terminal device transmits information to the server, and the server determines whether the terminal device should transmit a connection request for the AP. According to this process, since the terminal device only needs to notify the server of predetermined information, it is possible to suppress the installation of additional applications and the occurrence of additional processing load. Here, the server may be, for example, an apparatus on a network connectable via cellular communication such as LTE and 3G, but the function may be provided to the AP. In this case, for example, transmission of predetermined information from the above terminal device to the server or transmission of a determination result or instruction from the server to the terminal device is performed by a signal transmitted / received before the connection request to the AP is transmitted. It may be done. Moreover, the above-mentioned server does not need to be comprised by one apparatus, and may be comprised by several apparatus. Also, the determination of the above server may be performed by the terminal device, and the above server may not exist. That is, the terminal device estimates the behavior pattern of the user of the terminal device based on, for example, the on / off of the backlight, the application being executed, the throughput for the executed communication, the moving speed, etc., and transmits a connection request to the AP. It may be determined autonomously whether it should be or not. Furthermore, the above-described process is an example, and the division of roles may be changed from the above-described configuration. For example, the terminal device estimates a behavior pattern, transmits information on the behavior pattern to the server, and the server should transmit a connection request to the AP based on the information on the behavior pattern It may be determined whether or not. According to this, only by adjusting the setting on the server side, it is possible to appropriately select the terminal device to which the connection request is to be transmitted according to the state at that time.

  The control on the terminal device side may be performed alone or may be performed together with the control on the AP side. This prevents the terminal device from unnecessarily transmitting a connection request to the AP, and prevents the AP from generating a state in which it can not connect from the user desiring connection, or at least the probability of its occurrence. It can be reduced.

Claims (11)

Reception means for receiving a request for establishing a connection from another device;
When a first request for connection establishment is received from the other device, the first request is not received, and a period of a first predetermined length after the first request is received from the other device And control means for controlling the accepting means to accept the second request when the second request for establishing the connection is received a predetermined number of times from the other device.
A communication apparatus comprising: The first predetermined length period is a period after a second predetermined length period after receiving the first request from the other device,
The control means controls the reception means so as not to receive the connection establishment request received from the other device during the second predetermined length period.
The communication apparatus according to claim 1, The apparatus further comprises setting means for setting the second predetermined length based on a value related to a time from a plurality of devices entering a range connectable to the communication device to leaving the range.
The communication device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The setting means specifies a value regarding the time for each of the plurality of devices based on a period of time when a request for establishment of connection from each of the plurality of devices is received
The communication device according to claim 3, characterized in that: The setting means specifies a peak value in the distribution of the time for each of the plurality of devices as the value for the time, and sets the second predetermined length longer as the value for the time is larger.
The communication apparatus according to claim 4, The setting means specifies the value related to the time based on the width of the range, and performs the setting such that the second predetermined length becomes longer as the range is wider.
The communication device according to claim 3, characterized in that: The first predetermined length is determined based on a cycle in which the other device transmits a request for connection establishment in a low power consumption state.
The communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The predetermined number of times is determined based on the number of times the other device repeatedly transmits a connection establishment request at one time in the low power consumption state.
The communication apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The control means is a case where the predetermined number of times of the second request has not been received from the other device during the first predetermined length period, and the first predetermined length period. If after receiving a third request for connection establishment from the other device, the third request is treated as the first request,
The communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: A control method of a communication apparatus having a receiving unit for receiving a request for establishment of connection from another apparatus,
When a first request for connection establishment is received from the other device, the first request is not received, and a period of a first predetermined length after the first request is received from the other device In the meantime, there is provided a control step of controlling the reception means to receive the second request when the second request for connection establishment is received a predetermined number of times from the other device.
Control method characterized by In a computer provided in a communication device having accepting means for accepting a request for establishment of connection from another device,
When a first request for connection establishment is received from the other device, the first request is not received, and a period of a first predetermined length after the first request is received from the other device In the meantime, when the second request for establishing the connection is received a predetermined number of times from the other device, the control unit controls the reception unit to receive the second request.
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