JP6762676B2 - Wireless gate system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a wireless gate system using a near-field area obtained by a large aperture antenna.

Some wireless gate systems are based on, for example, Transfer JetX (802.153e) (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Transfer JetX is a registered trademark. As a result of this Transfer JetX, for example, there is a non-contact gate system.

In a non-contact gate system, a large aperture antenna is installed in the gate device. As a mobile terminal, for example, when a mobile terminal passes through a gate device with a passerby, the gate system is a near-field area formed in a tubular shape by a large-aperture antenna of the gate device (here, this is called a millimeter wave curtain). Therefore, high-speed communication with the mobile terminal is performed on a one-to-one basis.

As described above, the wireless gate system that communicates with the mobile terminal in a narrow range near the gate device can be used, for example, for managing the entrance and exit of facilities and for ticket gates of vehicles.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-258962

However, the wireless gate system described above has the following problems. The first challenge is: Millimeter waves used in wireless gate systems have poor transparency. In addition, it has high straightness and it is difficult to realize omnidirectional antenna characteristics. Therefore, depending on the orientation of the mobile terminal housed in the bag of a passerby passing through the gate device, the mobile terminal cannot obtain the desired received power.

The second issue is as follows. The near-field power per area of the large aperture antenna is inversely proportional to the area of the antenna. The power supply to the antenna is regulated by the Radio Law, and if this is applied to a large-aperture antenna corresponding to the gate width, the power that can be received on the mobile terminal side will be insufficient as a result.

An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless gate system that solves the above problems and enables good communication with a mobile terminal.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention of claim 1 comprises a plurality of communication devices for transmitting a beacon signal, a mobile terminal for receiving the beacon signal and communicating with one of the plurality of communication devices. The mobile terminal includes a control means for sequentially transmitting the beacon signal to the plurality of communication devices, and the mobile terminal receives a beacon signal based on a selection condition stored in advance. It is a wireless gate system characterized in that one of them is selected and one-to-one communication is performed with a communication device that has transmitted this beacon signal.

In the invention of claim 1, when a plurality of communication devices transmit a beacon signal, the control means controls the plurality of communication devices to sequentially transmit the beacon signal. The mobile terminal selects one of the received beacon signals based on the selection conditions. Then, the mobile terminal makes one-to-one communication with the communication device that transmitted the beacon signal.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the wireless gate system according to the first aspect, each communication device includes a plurality of antennas for millimeter waves, and radio waves radiated from the respective antennas are formed in a curtain shape. It is characterized by.

According to the invention of claim 3, in the wireless gate system according to claim 1, the mobile terminal stores the selection condition in advance as a condition for performing the best communication in one-to-one communication. It is characterized by being.

The invention of claim 4 is the radio gate system according to claim 3, wherein the mobile terminal selects a beacon signal having the largest signal-to-noise ratio from a plurality of beacon signals as the selection condition. It is characterized by remembering.

According to the invention of claim 1, it is possible to close the null point by increasing the number of communication devices. This enables one-to-one communication with the mobile terminal. Further, according to the present invention, since a plurality of antennas are used instead of one large aperture antenna, it is possible to increase the power per area of the antenna.

According to the invention of claim 2, by simply increasing the number of communication devices that form a millimeter wave curtain utilizing the straightness of millimeter waves, it is possible to reliably close the null point, and good communication can be achieved. enable.

According to the invention of claim 3, the mobile terminal enables one-to-one communication with the communication device in a good state.

According to the invention of claim 4, the beacon signal having the largest signal-to-noise ratio is selected from the plurality of beacon signals and communicates with the communication device transmitting this beacon signal, so that the beacon signal is carried in the best condition. Allows the terminal to communicate with the communicator.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the wireless gate system by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the entrance and exit to the gate device. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of each communication device. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the antenna part. It is a figure which shows the state of communication between a mobile terminal and a gate device.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

A wireless gate system according to this embodiment is shown in FIG. The wireless gate system of FIG. 1 communicates with the mobile terminal 1 passing through the gate device 100 by millimeter waves. The mobile terminal 1 is possessed by a passerby a, for example, in a bag a1. The wireless gate system includes a first communication device 10, a second communication device 20, a third communication device 30, a fourth communication device 40, and a control device 50.

When the mobile terminal 1 receives a plurality of beacon signals, it selects one. For this purpose, the mobile terminal 1 stores in advance the selection conditions provided for the best communication, and selects one from the beacon signals based on the selection conditions. As a selection condition, for example, there is a method of selecting a beacon signal having the largest S / N ratio (signal-to-noise ratio) or a beacon signal having a large level. The mobile terminal 1 transmits a connection request to a communication device having an ID included in the selected beacon signal. After that, when the mobile terminal 1 receives the connection response from the communication device, the mobile terminal 1 communicates with the communication device. That is, the mobile terminal 1 performs one-to-one data transmission / reception with this communication device. When the mobile terminal 1 receives the communication end signal from the communication device communicating with the mobile terminal 1, the mobile terminal 1 ends the communication with the communication device.

Further, the mobile terminal 1 has a function of communicating with the gate device 100, that is, a function of communicating with one of the first communication devices 10 to the fourth communication device 40. At this time, the mobile terminal 1 opens the reception window (reception window) and intermittently receives the beacon signal for a predetermined time. When the mobile terminal 1 receives only one beacon signal, it transmits a connection request to the communication device having the ID included in the beacon signal. After that, when the mobile terminal 1 receives the connection response from the communication device, the mobile terminal 1 starts communication with the communication device.

The control device 50 of FIG. 3 has a timer function for performing control related to the transmission of the beacon signal. The control device 50 is connected to the communication unit 12 to be described later of the first communication device 10 to the communication unit 42 to be described later of the fourth communication device 40 by the control lines c1 to c4, respectively. The control device 50 controls so that the timing of sending the beacon signal is synchronized. That is, the control device 50 controls the first communication device 10 to the fourth communication device 40 so that the beacon signals transmitted from the first communication devices 10 to the fourth communication device 40 do not overlap. For this purpose, the control device 50 sequentially sends the transmission permission signal permitting the transmission of the beacon signal to the first communication device 10 to the fourth communication device 40 at predetermined time intervals by using the timer function. ..

After that, when the control device 50 receives the communication start signal with the mobile terminal from one of the first communication device 10 to the fourth communication device 40, the control device 50 stops the output of the transmission permission signal of the beacon signal. As a result, the first communication device 10 to the fourth communication device 40 interrupt the transmission of the beacon signal.

When the control device 50 receives the communication end signal with the mobile terminal from one of the first communication device 10 to the fourth communication device 40, the control device 50 restarts the output of the transmission permission signal of the beacon signal.

The gate device 100 of FIG. 1 is installed, for example, at the entrance / exit of a facility, and its width has a value L1. The first communication device 10 is installed on one end side of the upper part of the gate device 100, and the third communication device 30 is on the other end side of the upper part of the gate device 100 and with respect to the first communication device 10. It is installed diagonally. The fourth communication device 40 is installed on one end side of the lower part of the gate device 100, and the second communication device 20 is on the other end side of the lower part of the gate device 100 and with respect to the fourth communication device 40. It is installed diagonally. That is, the first communication devices 10 to the fourth communication devices 40 are arranged in order to avoid a dead zone caused by a frame or the like (not shown) of the gate device 100. Although not shown, the first communication device 10 to the fourth communication device 40 are connected to each other by a control line for synchronizing. There are various other installation positions of the first communication device 10 to the fourth communication device 40, and the number of communication devices to be installed is not limited.

Then, the passerby a passes under the first communication device 10 and the third communication device 30, and the passerby a passes between the second communication device 20 and the fourth communication device 40. A gate device 100 is provided, for example, at the doorway of the facility so as to pass through. When entering the facility, as shown in FIG. 2, a passerby passes between the second communication device 20 and the fourth communication device 40 installed in the width direction of the gate device 100 in the passing direction b. a walks through the gate device 100.

As shown in FIG. 3, the first communication device 10 includes an antenna unit 11 and a communication unit 12. Similarly, the second communication device 20 includes an antenna unit 21 and a communication unit 22, and the third communication device 30 includes an antenna unit 31 and a communication unit 32. Further, the fourth communication device 40 includes an antenna unit 41 and a communication unit 42.

Hereinafter, the first communication device 10 among the first communication devices 10 to the fourth communication device 40 will be described.

The antenna unit 11 is realized by an array antenna in which a plurality of antenna elements 11A are arranged linearly and these antenna elements 11A are driven by a high-frequency drive signal from the drive circuit 11B, as shown in FIG. 4, for example. With such a configuration, each antenna element 11A outputs a millimeter wave radio wave, so that the antenna unit 11 radiates a curtain-shaped radio wave (millimeter wave curtain) by the millimeter wave having high straightness. In FIG. 2 above, this situation is represented as a millimeter wave curtain 11A ₁ drawn by a broken line. The antenna portion 11 is an example, and there are various realization methods for the antenna for extending the near field in this way.

The communication unit 12 is a main part that functions as a communication device. When the communication unit 12 receives the transmission permission signal addressed to its own device from the control device 50, the communication unit 12 controls the antenna unit 11 to transmit a signal called a beacon to start communication. The signal transmitted from the antenna unit 11 is a beacon signal converted into a high-frequency signal, and is transmitted by the millimeter-wave curtain described above. The beacon signal is data preset in the communication unit 12, and includes an ID (identification data) composed of alphanumeric characters and the like. This beacon signal is a signal received by a mobile terminal including the mobile terminal 1.

After that, when the communication unit 12 receives the connection request from the mobile terminal via the antenna unit 11, it controls the antenna unit 11 and transmits the connection response to the mobile terminal. As a result, the communication unit 12 establishes communication with the mobile terminal. At the same time, the communication unit 12 sends a communication start signal indicating that communication with the mobile terminal is in progress (busy) to the control device 50.

When the communication with the mobile terminal is completed, the communication unit 12 controls the antenna unit 11 to send a communication end signal indicating the end of the communication to the mobile terminal. At the same time, the communication unit 12 sends this communication end signal to the control device 50.

Next, the second communication device 20 will be described. Since the antenna unit 21 of the second communication device 20 is the same as the antenna unit 11 of the first communication device 10, these description will be omitted. Further, since the communication unit 22 is the same as the communication unit 12 of the first communication device 10 except that the preset IDs are different, the description of the communication unit 22 will be omitted.

Similar to the second communication device 20, the antenna unit 31 and the antenna unit 41 of the third communication device 30 and the fourth communication device 40 are the same as the antenna unit 11 of the first communication device 10. The explanation of is omitted. Further, since the communication units 31 and 41 are the same as the communication unit 12 of the first communication device 10 except that the preset IDs are different, the description of the communication unit 22 will be omitted.

The above is the wireless gate system according to this embodiment. Next, the operation of this wireless gate system will be described. When the mobile terminal 1 of the passerby a starts communication when the passerby a passes through the gate device 100, for example, the first communication device 10 to the fourth communication device 40 are controlled by the control device 50. As shown in FIG. 5, beacon signals C1 to C4 are sequentially transmitted. The mobile terminal 1 opens a reception window and performs intermittent reception. When it is determined that the signal-to-noise ratio of the beacon signal C2 transmitted by the second communication device 20 is the largest among the beacon signals C1 to C4 transmitted sequentially when the reception window is open. , The mobile terminal 1 transmits a connection request to the second communication device 20.

When the second communication device 20 receives the connection request from the mobile terminal 1, it transmits a connection response to the mobile terminal 1. When the mobile terminal 1 receives the connection response from the second communication device 20, it establishes communication with the second communication device 20 and transmits / receives data. At the same time, the second communication device 20 sends a communication communication signal indicating that communication with the mobile terminal 1 is in progress to the control device 50. Upon receiving the communication start signal, the control device 50 stops the output of the transmission permission signal that has been sequentially sent to the first communication device 10 to the fourth communication device 40. As a result, when the mobile terminal 1 is in a state of communicating with the second communication device 20, the first communication device 10, the third communication device 30, and the fourth communication device 40 interrupt the transmission of the beacon signal. To do.

When the communication with the mobile terminal 1 is completed, the second communication device 20 sends a communication end signal indicating the end of the communication to the mobile terminal. At the same time, the second communication device 20 sends the communication end signal to the control device 50. As a result, the transmission of the beacon signal is restarted.

On the other hand, when the mobile terminal 1 opens the reception window and performs intermittent reception, a plurality of beacon signals among the beacon signals C1 to C4 sequentially transmitted, for example, all beacon signals C1 to C4 are transmitted to the mobile terminal 1. When the mobile terminal 1 receives the signal, the mobile terminal 1 selects one of the beacon signals C1 to C4 based on the selection conditions provided for the best communication. After that, the connection request is transmitted to the communication device that has transmitted the selected beacon signal, for example, the third communication device 30. Since the subsequent processing is the same as the processing described above, that is, the processing in which the mobile terminal 1 communicates with the second communication device 20, the description thereof will be omitted.

Thus, according to this embodiment, it is possible to close the null point by simply increasing the number of communication devices that form a millimeter wave curtain utilizing the straightness of the millimeter wave. Further, according to this embodiment, since a plurality of large aperture antennas are used instead of one large aperture antenna having a gate width, there is an effect of increasing the power per constituent area. As a result, for example, robustness, which is most important at station gates, is dramatically improved.

In this way, according to this embodiment, it is possible to close the null point by increasing the number of communication devices that form a millimeter wave curtain utilizing the straightness of the millimeter wave and irradiating the terminal from a plurality of directions. Is. Further, since a plurality of antennas are used instead of one large-diameter antenna having a gate width, there is an effect of increasing the power per constituent area. As a result, for example, robustness, which is most important at station gates, is dramatically improved.

10 to 40 First communication device to fourth communication device 11, 21, 31, 41 Antenna section 12, 22, 32, 42 Communication section 50 Control device

Claims (4)

Multiple communicators that transmit beacon signals and
A mobile terminal that receives the beacon signal and communicates with one of the plurality of communication devices.
A control means that controls the plurality of communication devices to sequentially transmit the beacon signals, and
With
The mobile terminal selects one of the received beacon signals based on the selection conditions stored in advance, and performs one-to-one communication with the communication device that transmitted the beacon signal.
A wireless gate system that features that. Each of the communicators is equipped with a plurality of antennas for millimeter waves.
Radio waves radiated from each of the antennas are formed in a curtain shape.
The wireless gate system according to claim 1. The mobile terminal stores the selection condition in advance as a condition for performing the best communication in one-to-one communication.
The wireless gate system according to claim 1. The mobile terminal stores a condition of selecting a beacon signal having the largest signal-to-noise ratio from a plurality of beacon signals as the selection condition.
The wireless gate system according to claim 3.

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