KR101485817B1 - method of providing power management for access point, and computer-readable recording medium for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a technology for efficiently managing power of an access point device by setting the access point device to be in an active mode only during hours when the access point needs to perform near field wireless communication and keeping in a sleep mode except for such hours. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of setting an access point to be in the active mode if there is an associated station or a request for association, and otherwise, setting the access point to be in the sleep mode; arranging a clock gate to control an operation clock input for a near field wireless communications module; opening the clock gate in the active mode; and in the sleep mode, opening the clock gate during a time when outputting a beacon signal and monitoring a connection request signal or a response signal from an external station, and closing the clock gate except for the time, thereby efficiently managing power consumption of the access point.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a power management method for an access point and a computer-readable recording medium for the same,

The present invention is a technique for efficiently managing the power of the access point device by setting the active mode only while the access point device needs to perform near-field wireless communication and maintaining the sleep mode at other times.

More specifically, the present invention sets an access point to an active mode when there is a station having an association established or a request for association comes in, otherwise sets the access point to a sleep mode, In the active mode, the clock gate is opened. In the sleep mode, the clock gate is opened while the beacon signal is output and the connection request signal or the response signal is monitored from the external station. And more particularly to a technology for efficiently managing power consumption of an access point by closing a gate.

In recent years, wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) devices have been rapidly spreading to achieve near-point high-speed data communication within a certain distance without using a cable. Wireless LAN technology has been developed as a solution to solve the difficulties of installation, maintenance, and movement due to wired cable in the past. Recently, the necessity of smart LAN users is increasing.

In addition, technologies for providing short-range wireless communication such as ZigBee and Z-wave in addition to the wireless LAN have become widespread.

Here, in order to utilize the Internet in an individual station in a short-range wireless communication environment such as a wireless LAN, an access point (AP), which is a device for connecting a wireless network to a broadband wired network, is needed. As a result, one access point is installed in most homes as well as offices and shopping malls. In addition, it is a general trend that wireless LAN modules are installed in devices such as a set-top box, a home gateway, a backup storage, etc., which are being released in recent years.

However, since the outside station can not know in advance when to use the Internet, the access point is always active during power-on, which causes the power consumption of the access point to be considerable. In recent years, there has been a strong need to reduce power consumption in Europe, and the enormous power consumption of the access point is undesirable.

In order to overcome the disadvantages of such power consumption, it is possible to consider a configuration in which the access point is automatically switched to the sleep mode as in a general home appliance. However, in such a case, it is inconvenient to turn on the access point It is difficult to apply it.

Accordingly, a technique for reducing the average power consumption of the access point is desperately needed in the related industry. Particularly, there is a need for a technique capable of quickly responding to a communication request while reducing power consumption and not missing a data communication request of a wireless station such as a smart phone.

1. Korean Patent Application No. 10-2005-0001926 "Radio Resource Management of Wireless Local Area Network"

2. Korean Patent Application No. 10-2006-7000698 entitled "Method and System for Transmitting Transmission Power Control Information Between Network Management Entities in a Wireless Communication System"

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an access point apparatus capable of establishing an active mode only while it is necessary to perform near- And to provide a technology for efficiently managing power of a device.

In particular, it is an object of the present invention to set an access point to an active mode when there is a station with an association established or when an association request is received, otherwise to set the access point to a sleep mode, In the active mode, the clock gate is opened. In the sleep mode, the clock gate is opened while the beacon signal is output and the connection request signal or the response signal is monitored from the external station. Thereby efficiently managing the power consumption of the access point.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an access point power management method comprising the steps of: (a) temporarily switching from a sleep mode to an active mode to output a beacon signal; (b) monitoring a connection request signal of a station responding to the beacon signal; (c) if the connection request signal is not identified, returning to the sleep mode, and if the connection request signal is identified, maintaining the active mode; (d) outputting a connection response signal corresponding to the connection request signal; (e) establishing an association with the station; (f) outputting a beacon signal in an active mode; (g) maintaining an active mode when a response signal to the beacon signal is identified from the station to which the association is set, and switching to a sleep mode if the response signal is not identified.

In the present invention, the switching to the active mode is achieved by opening a clock gate for interrupting the input of the operating clock of the short-range wireless communication module, and switching to the sleep mode is accomplished by switching the clock gate It is preferable to achieve close setting.

In this case, it is preferable that the interval during which the access point monitors the connection request signal in step (b) is set to be started after the beacon signal and to have a variable duty ratio within one period of the beacon interval.

Meanwhile, the interval during which the access point monitors the connection request signal in step (b) may be such that a predetermined duty ratio section is randomly arranged within one period of the beacon interval. In this case, step (b) may include closing the clock gate immediately after the output of the beacon signal; Randomly generating a waiting time for starting a monitoring interval; Setting a clock gate to open; Monitoring a connection request signal for a duration of a predetermined duty ratio within one period of the beacon interval; And setting the clock gate to a closed state.

The present invention also provides a method for controlling an access point, the method comprising the steps of: monitoring an amount of wireless communication between an assistant wireless communication module and an external station, Maintaining an active mode state when the assist processor identifies a wireless communication amount as a result of monitoring the wireless communication amount; And switching to a sleep mode if the assist processor can not identify the wireless communication amount as a result of monitoring the wireless communication amount.

Meanwhile, a computer-readable recording medium according to the present invention records a power management program for causing a computer to execute a power management method of an access point as described above.

The power management method of the access point according to the present invention has the following advantages.

(1) By sensing the wireless communication environment of the access point and setting the access point to the sleep mode if necessary, the amount of power consumed by the short range wireless communication module at the access point can be reduced.

(2) In the switching between the active mode and the sleep mode, the operation of the short-range wireless communication module is not switched on / off, but the operation power is always supplied and the operation clock input provided to the short- The access point can respond quickly even when the external station attempts to communicate with the Internet in the sleep mode.

(3) In the sleep mode, the interval for monitoring the connection request signal of the external station with respect to the beacon signal is configured to be smartly variable, so that the power consumption is reduced while the connection request of the external staser is not missed.

1 is an exemplary diagram of a state associated with a station within the coverage of an access point in accordance with the present invention;
2 is a block diagram of an access point according to the present invention;
3 is a flowchart illustrating a power management process of an access point according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a monitoring interval of a wireless LAN module according to the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a monitoring interval of a wireless LAN module according to a second embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a state associated with a station within the coverage of an access point 100 according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an access point 100 according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, an access point 100 according to the present invention is externally connected to an Internet network through a broadband network, and internally communicates with an individual station 200 through short- So that the station 200 can access the broadband Internet network. At this time, the short-range wireless communication technology may be wireless LAN, ZigBee, Z-wave, UWB, etc. In the present invention, the present invention will be described based on wireless LAN technology.

The access point 100 may further include a clock gate 110, a wireless LAN module 120, an assist processor 130, a gate controller 140, a phase lock loop (PLL) 150).

The clock gate 110 is opened or closed under the control of the gate controller 140 as a module for passing or blocking that the operation clock generated in the PLL 150 is provided to the wireless LAN module 120. [ When the clock gate 110 is opened, the operation clock is provided, so that the wireless LAN module 120 operates normally. On the other hand, when the clock gate 110 is closed, the operation clock is not provided to the wireless LAN module 120, and in this case, even if the operation power is supplied, the wireless LAN module 120 does not actually perform the processing, do. With the clock gate 110 closed, the WLAN module 120 exhibits a relatively lower power consumption.

In order for the wireless LAN module 120 to transmit and receive signals to / from the external station 200, the clock gate 110 must be in an open state, so that there is no problem in the operation of the access point 100, In order to reduce the power consumption, the gate controller 140 must perform the open / close control of the clock gate 110 efficiently.

That is, when the clock gate 110 is opened, the WLAN module 120 transmits the 'operation clock 2' generated in the PLL 150 to perform communication with the station 200. When the clock gate 110 is opened and the "operation clock 2" is transmitted to the wireless LAN module 120, the wireless LAN module 120 periodically broadcasts a beacon signal to the coverage of the access point 100, (E.g., a connection request signal, a response signal, and a data communication) is received from the wireless LAN 200.

The assist processor 130 monitors the amount of data traffic the access point 100 performs with the external station 200. [

The gate controller 140 controls the clock gate 110 to determine whether to allow the operation clock to be supplied to the wireless LAN module 120. Hereinafter, a methodology in which the gate controller 140 controls the clock gate 110 according to circumstances will be described in detail.

First, when the station 200 associated with the access point 100 exists, the clock gate 110 is opened to keep the wireless LAN module 120 in the active mode. It is preferable that the station 200 actively performs radio communication with the access point 100 and also maintains the association state temporarily while temporarily holding the radio communication.

When the amount of wireless communication exchanged between the station 200 and the wireless LAN module 120 is identified as a result of the assist processor 130 monitoring the wireless LAN module 120 in the active mode of the access point 100, 110 in the open state to maintain the wireless LAN module 120 in an operating state. Conversely, if the amount of wireless communication exchanged between the station 200 and the wireless LAN module 120 is not identified, the power consumption of the access point 100 is reduced by closing the clock gate 110. In this case, the assist processor 130 may monitor the amount of wireless communication of the wireless LAN module 120. For example, the assistant processor 130 may monitor the amount of wireless communication of the wireless LAN module 120 with the wireless LAN IC (not shown) 100) of the main processor (not shown).

Meanwhile, the access point 100 periodically broadcasts a beacon signal according to the wireless LAN standard. Even in the sleep mode, the access point 100 must periodically output a beacon signal.

Accordingly, in the sleep mode in which the clock gate 110 is closed, the gate controller 140 periodically opens the clock gate 110 to operate the wireless LAN module 120 so that the beacon signal is broadcast Output. If the peripheral station 200 transmits a wireless LAN signal to the access point 100 in response to the beacon signal, the wireless LAN 100 is switched to the active mode. If the wireless LAN signal is not received from the periphery for the beacon signal, The gate 110 is closed to return to the original sleep mode.

At this time, in the sleep mode, the gate controller 140 periodically provides an operation clock to the wireless LAN module 120 to broadcast the beacon signal to the coverage of the access point 100, (E.g., connection request signal, response signal, data communication) corresponding to the beacon signal is received. In order to receive the wireless LAN signal, the wireless LAN module 120 must operate. Therefore, the clock gate 110 is opened at the start time of the monitoring interval and the clock gate 110 is closed at the end of the monitoring interval.

The PLL 150 generates an operation clock and provides the generated operation clock to various execution modules mounted on the access point 100, thereby allowing the corresponding execution module to operate. In Fig. 2, an "operation clock 1" for operating the gate controller 140 and an "operation clock 2" for operating the wireless LAN module 120 are shown.

The present invention will be described with respect to an "operation clock 2" for turning on / off the operation of the wireless LAN module 120 by opening / closing the clock gate 110 of the present invention among the operation clocks shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 2, the 'operation clock 2' generated in the PLL 150 is transmitted to the wireless LAN module 120 to operate the wireless LAN module 120 so that the wireless LAN module 120 and the station 200 Directional signal transmission and reception.

According to the present invention, in order to reduce power consumption, the clock gate 110 is disposed in the route where the "operation clock 2 " moves from the PLL 150 to the wireless LAN module 120, The operation clock 2 can be adaptively controlled to be transmitted to the wireless LAN module 120. [ Accordingly, the operation of the wireless LAN module 120 is effectively turned on / off so that the power consumption of the wireless RAM module 120 can be efficiently managed.

Unlike the present invention in which the input of the operation clock is controlled, when the power of the access point 100 or the operation power of the wireless LAN module 120 is turned on / off to switch to the active mode and the sleep mode, The access point 100 not only shows a slow response speed but also controls the power of the access point 100 so that the stability of the system design is also reduced. Therefore, in the present invention, by adopting the method of controlling the input of the operation clock, it is possible to obtain the advantages of quick response speed and high system stability.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a power management process of the access point 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a monitoring interval of the wireless LAN module 120 according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a monitoring interval of the wireless LAN module 120 according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.

A process of managing power in the access point 100 according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3 to FIG. 5 as follows.

S110: First, it is assumed that the clock gate 110 is closed and starts in the sleep mode in which the operation clock is not supplied to the wireless LAN module 120. [ If the operating clock is not input to the wireless LAN module 120 even when the power of the access point 100 is turned on, the power consumption is relatively reduced as compared with when the operating clock is input to the wireless LAN module 120 to operate normally have.

S120: In order to satisfy the wireless LAN standard, the gate controller 140 temporarily opens the clock gate 110 periodically (e.g. every 100 msec time) and outputs a beacon signal according to the definition of the wireless LAN standard. In the sleep mode, the clock gate 110 is closed, and the clock gate 110 is temporarily opened so that the wireless LAN module 120 can output a beacon signal. If there is no response from the external station 200 with respect to the beacon signal, the beacon signal is temporarily switched to the active mode and then returned to the sleep mode.

S130: After the wireless LAN module 120 outputs a beacon signal, the wireless LAN module 120 monitors whether or not there is a connection request signal responding to the beacon signal of the access point 100 from the station 200. [ If the connection request signal is always monitored for a predetermined period in step S130, the access point 100 may not recognize the connection request signal for some stations 200. [ Accordingly, it is desirable to set the monitoring interval not to be constant. In this specification, two examples are presented in connection with irregular setting of the monitoring interval.

In the first embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the monitoring interval of the wireless LAN module 120 is started immediately after the beacon signal and is set to have a variable duty ratio within one period of the beacon interval.

That is, when the beacon signal is terminated after the clock gate 110 is opened at the time of starting the beacon signal in the "0 to T" interval of FIG. 4, the clock gate 110 is not closed, Section starts. At the end of the monitoring interval, the clock gate 110 is closed. In the interval of "T to 2T ", the duty ratio between the start point of the monitoring section and the end point of the monitoring section is relatively more variable.

As described above, in the first embodiment, the monitoring interval of the wireless LAN module 120 is preferably set to have a different duty ratio for each period of the beacon signal, and the response signal transmitted from the external station 200 is divided into several Within a cycle, you will not miss it.

In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the monitoring interval of the wireless LAN module 120 is not started immediately after the beacon signal, but is set such that intervals of specific duty ratios are randomly arranged within one period of the beacon interval.

That is, when the beacon signal is terminated after the clock gate 110 is opened at the start of the beacon signal in the period of " 0 to T "in FIG. 5, the clock gate 110 is closed, ) Returns to the sleep mode once. After the waiting time is maintained, the clock gate 110 is opened again at the start of the monitoring period, and the clock gate 110 is closed when the wireless LAN module 120 starts monitoring and ends the monitoring period.

In the section "T ~ 2T ", the waiting time for the monitoring section is set different from the previous period. As described above, in the second embodiment, the monitoring wait time is set differently, preferably randomly, for each period of the beacon interval, thereby ensuring that the sleep mode time is always constant within one period, Can be recognized within a few cycles.

S140, S150: If the connection request signal is not identified from the monitoring result of the wireless LAN module 120, the mobile terminal returns to the sleep mode in step S110. If the connection request signal is identified, The access point 100 sets up an association with the corresponding station 200 by outputting a connection response signal to the station 200 that has transmitted the connection request signal.

S160 and S170: The wireless LAN module 120 of the access point 100 periodically outputs a beacon signal in the active mode state associated with the station 200 and transmits a beacon signal to the access point 100 from the already- And monitors the response signal to the beacon signal of the base station 100.

Then, when a response signal to the beacon signal is identified from the associated station 200, the access point 100 determines that the associated station 200 is still in the coverage, and the clock gate 120 is in the open state And prepares for full-scale data communication with the corresponding station 200. Conversely, if a response signal to the beacon signal is not identified from the station 200, the system enters the sleep mode of step S110.

Meanwhile, the assist processor 130 provided in the access point 100 monitors the amount of traffic transmitted from the station 200 to the wireless LAN module 120 in a state where the access point 100 and the station 200 are associated with each other.

When the assist processor 130 identifies the amount of traffic to be transmitted from the station 200 to the wireless LAN module 120, the access point 100 is in an active mode (e.g., To keep the clock gate 110 open.

However, if the assist processor 130 does not identify the amount of traffic transmitted from the station 200 to the wireless LAN module 120, the user has left the station (e.g., smart phone) 200 without using it, Switches to the sleep mode and closes the clock gate 110.

The present invention can also be embodied in the form of computer readable code on a computer readable recording medium. At this time, the computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording apparatuses in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored.

Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include a ROM, a RAM, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage, and the like, and may be implemented in the form of a carrier wave . The computer-readable recording medium can also be stored and executed by a computer-readable code in a distributed manner on a networked computer system. And functional programs, codes, and code segments for implementing the present invention can be easily deduced by programmers skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs.

As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed in the present specification and drawings, and although specific terms have been used, they have been used only in a general sense to easily describe the technical contents of the present invention and to facilitate understanding of the invention. And is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other modifications based on the technical idea of the present invention are possible in addition to the embodiments disclosed herein.

100: access point
110: clock gate
120: Wireless LAN module
130: assist processor
140: Gate controller
150: PLL
200: station

Claims (7)

A method of managing power for an access point performing short-range wireless communication with an external station,
(a) periodically switching from a sleep mode to an active mode and outputting a beacon signal by setting a clock gate for interrupting an operation clock input of the short-range wireless communication module to be opened periodically in a sleep mode;
(b) monitoring a connection request signal of the station in response to the beacon signal;
(c) if the connection request signal is not identified, returning to the sleep mode and maintaining the active mode when the connection request signal is identified;
(d) outputting a connection response signal corresponding to the connection request signal;
(e) establishing an association with the station;
(f) outputting the beacon signal in the active mode;
(g) switching to the sleep mode by maintaining the active mode if a response signal to the beacon signal is identified from the station for which the association is established, and setting the clock gate to be closed if the response signal is not identified;
The power management method comprising:
delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the interval during which the access point monitors the connection request signal in the step (b) is set to start after the beacon signal and to have a variable duty ratio within one period of the beacon interval.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the access point monitors the connection request signal in the step (b) so that the interval of the predetermined duty ratio is randomly arranged within one period of the beacon interval.
The method of claim 4,
The step (b)
Closing the clock gate immediately after the output of the beacon signal;
Randomly generating a waiting time for starting the monitoring interval;
Setting the clock gate to open;
Monitoring the connection request signal for a duration of a predetermined duty ratio within one period of the beacon interval;
Closing the clock gate;
Wherein the power management method comprises the steps of:
The method of claim 5,
Monitoring an amount of wireless communication exchanged between the short-range wireless communication module and the external station by the assist processor provided in the access point in the active mode of step (g);
Maintaining the active mode state when the assist processor identifies a wireless communication amount as a result of monitoring the wireless communication amount;
Switching to the sleep mode if the assist processor can not identify the amount of wireless communication as a result of monitoring the amount of wireless communication;
Wherein the access point further comprises:
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a power management method of an access point according to any one of claims 1 and 3 to 6.

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