KR19990053966A - Computer system for infrared data communication and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer system suitable for wireless communication and a control method thereof, comprising a plurality of wireless transmission / reception modules, which are controlled by a microcomputer. The microcomputer generates test data with the IR controller and controls to select one transceiver module having the best communication state among the plurality of modules. Therefore, by limiting the communication distance and direction according to the position between the wireless communication system by transmitting and receiving wireless signals with the external electronic system through the selected module.

Description

COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR INFRARED DATA COMMUNICATION AND CONTROL METHOD OF THE SAME

The present invention relates to a portable computer system suitable for wireless communication and a communication control method thereof, and more particularly, includes a plurality of modules for transmitting / receiving wireless data, and selecting a transmitting / receiving module having the best communication state from among the external electronic system. A computer system for performing communication and a control method thereof.

1 and 2, the portable computer 10 according to the related art includes an infrared transceiver 22 for wireless communication. The infrared transceiver 22 is fixed to the rear portion 40 of the portable computer 10. In addition, the rear part 40 is provided with a communication interface 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24 through a wire with a plurality of peripheral devices and other electronic systems.

The infrared transceiver 22 is a part for transmitting and receiving wireless signals to and from external electronic systems, and is provided at a fixed position on one side of the portable computer so that the infrared transmission / reception unit 22 can communicate with each other in a communication distance and a direction (wireless data transmission / reception direction). Constraints follow.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the infrared transceiver 22 is provided as one infrared transceiver module. The infrared transceiver module includes a transmitting light emitting element and a receiving light receiving element. In addition, the light emitting and receiving elements have a transmission and reception direction of about 15 degrees in the up, down, left, and right directions with respect to the center of the wireless signal.

Therefore, when transmitting and receiving wireless signals to and from an external electronic system, a problem arises in that a communication state is determined according to a communication distance and a direction between the external electronic systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has a plurality of wireless data transmission / reception modules for wireless communication, and a computer system for performing wireless communication with external electronic devices through a module having the best communication state among them. To provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a communication control method of a computer system having a plurality of wireless data transmission / reception modules for wireless communication.

1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a portable computer system according to an embodiment of the prior art;

FIG. 2 shows a rear portion of the portable computer system shown in FIG. 1; FIG.

3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the portable computer system shown in FIG.

4 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a portable computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a side view of the portable computer system shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the portable computer system shown in FIG. 4; FIG. And

7 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure of a portable computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

* Description of symbols on the main parts of the drawings *

100: portable computer system 102: computer body

104: keyboard device 106: display panel

108: LCD 110: IR transceiver

112: light emitting element (or light receiving element) 120: microcomputer

122: test data generator 124: module selector

126: IR controller 128: system unit

132, 134, 136, 138, 140: IR transceiver module

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, a computer system suitable for wireless data communication, comprising: a system unit constituting the system; A plurality of transmit / receive modules for transmitting / receiving wireless signals to / from external electronic devices; Means for performing modulation / demodulation of data transmitted / received to / from the at least one module between at least one of the transmit / receive modules and the system unit; Means for generating test data and providing it to said modulation / demodulation means; And control means for controlling the modulation / demodulation means to communicate with the external electronic devices through the transmission / reception modules, and determine a communication state of each of the modules.

In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the control means: controls the modulation / demodulation means such that the modulation / demodulation means communicates with the external electronic devices via a module in the best communication state among the modules. .

In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the transmission and reception modules have different data transmission and reception directions.

According to another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, a communication control method of a computer system having a plurality of transmission and reception modules for transmitting / receiving radio signals to / from external electronic devices, comprising: checking a communication status Generating test data for; Communicating with the external electronic devices through the transmission / reception modules using the test data; Selecting a module of a best communication state among the transmit / receive modules; Communicating with the external electronic devices through the selected module.

In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the selecting step comprises the steps of: determining whether there is at least one module of the best communication state among the transmit / receive modules; If there is a module in the best communication state, selecting it; Generating information informing that the communication is possible.

In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the method comprises: determining whether a communication state is good while performing communication with the external electronic devices; If the communication state is not good, stopping communication with the external electronic devices through the selected transmission / reception module; Redoing the selection step.

Therefore, according to the computer system of the present invention, test data is generated to determine whether there is one module having the best communication state among the plurality of transmission / reception modules, and the module having the best communication state is selected as a result of the determination. Subsequently, wireless data communication is performed with the external electronic devices using the selected module.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

4 to 6 show the configuration of a portable computer system according to an embodiment of the invention.

4 and 5, the portable computer system 100 includes a computer body 102 and a display panel 106.

The computer body 102 is composed of components (CPU, hard disk, keyboard, pointing device, etc.) of a general computer system.

The display panel 106 includes an LCD 108 for displaying video information provided from the main body 102 and the novel IR transceiver 110 of the present invention.

In addition, the IR transceiver 110 includes a plurality of transceiver modules for transmitting or receiving wireless signals to and from an external electronic system capable of wireless communication. Each of the transmission and reception modules includes a light emitting device 112 for transmitting wireless signals and a light receiving device 112 for receiving wireless signals.

6, the computer system 100 includes a system unit 128, a microcomputer 120, an IR controller 126, and a plurality of IR transceiver modules 130.

The system unit 128 is a part constituting the computer system 100. For example, the system unit 128 includes a system bus controller for controlling a CPU, a memory, and a system bus (for example, an ISA bus).

The microcomputer 120 is connected to the system bus and includes at least one of a test data generator 122 generating test data for checking a communication state and at least one of the plurality of transmission / reception modules 130 corresponding to the test check. A module selector 124 for selecting one transmit / receive module is included.

The IR controller 126 modulates radio signals transmitted and received between the external electronic system and the system unit 128 that communicates through at least one of the plurality of transmission / reception modules 130. ) Or output by demodulating.

The transmit / receive modules 130 include a plurality of transmit / receive modules 132, 134, 136, 138, and 140, each of which includes a light emitting device for transmitting wireless signals. It is provided with a light receiving element for receiving wireless signals.

In addition, some specific module (s) among the transmission / reception modules 130 may include only light emitting elements, and the rest may include only light receiving elements.

The light emitting elements or light receiving elements are provided to have different communication directions in order to widen a transmission / reception range according to a communication direction. That is, the direction in which the light-emitting and light-receiving elements are installed is provided differently from each other so that a communication direction of about 15 degrees in the upper, lower, left, right, and right directions is formed around the extension line corresponding to the penetration direction. Therefore, it forms a wider communication range than the conventional IR transceiver.

7 shows a control procedure of the computer system according to the embodiment of the present invention, which shows the operation procedure of the program included in the microcomputer 120.

Referring to the drawing, in step S150, the test data for checking the wireless communication state is output from the microcomputer 120. Then, in step S152, the test data is used to mutually communicate with an external electronic system (for example, another portable computer or a wireless LAN system) from the microcomputer 120 through the IR controller 126 and the plurality of transmission / reception modules 130. Perform data communication.

In operation S154, it is determined whether there is at least one transceiver module having the best communication state among the plurality of transceiver modules 130. As a result of the determination, if there is a transmission / reception module having the best communication state, the flow proceeds to step S156 to select the transmission / reception module with the best communication state. To communicate.

Subsequently, in step S158, a test good signal is transmitted to the system unit 128 informing that the selected transmission / reception module is in a state of being communicable, that is, in a state capable of communicating. Subsequently, the system unit 128 receiving the test good signal in step S160 communicates with an external electronic system through the selected transmission / reception module. At this time, the IR controller 126 modulates / demodulates data transmitted / received to / from the selected transceiving module and provides the external electronic system / system unit 128.

Subsequently, the microcomputer 120 also determines whether the communication state through the currently selected transmission / reception module is good, as in step S162, during communication. If it is determined that the communication state is poor, the flow advances to step S164 to stop communication through the selected transmission / reception module. Subsequently, it is determined whether the communication with the external electronic system is terminated in step S166. If communication is continued, the flow proceeds to step S152.

If the communication state is good, the process proceeds to step S160 to continue communication with the external electronic system through the selected transmission / reception module.

As described above, the present invention forms a wide range for transmitting and receiving infrared signals to perform wireless data communication.

In addition, a plurality of transmission / reception modules are provided to select a transmission / reception module having the best transmission / reception state among them, and thus it is suitable for use for a wireless LAN by performing wireless communication.

Claims (5)

In a computer system suitable for wireless data communication: A system unit 128; A plurality of transmit / receive modules 130 for transmitting / receiving wireless signals to / from external electronic devices; Means (126) for performing modulation / demodulation of data transmitted / received to / from the at least one module between at least one of the transmit / receive modules (130) and the system unit (128); Means (122) for generating test data and providing it to said modulation / demodulation means (126); The modulation / demodulation means 126 controls to communicate with the external electronic devices through the transmission / reception modules 130, and determines a communication state of each of the transmission / reception modules 130 to determine the most of the transmission / reception modules. Control means (120) for controlling to select a suitable transmit / receive module. The method of claim 1, The transmission and reception module (130) is a computer system, characterized in that different transmission directions. A communication control method of a computer system having a plurality of transmit / receive modules for transmitting / receiving wireless signals to / from external electronic devices, the method comprising: Generating test data for checking a communication state (S150); Communicating with the external electronic devices through the transmission / reception modules (130) using the test data (S152); Selecting (S154, S156, S158) a module having a best communication state among the transmit / receive modules (130); And performing communication with the external electronic devices through the selected module (S160). The method of claim 3, wherein The selection step is: Determining whether there is at least one module having a best communication state among the transmission / reception modules (S154); If there is a module in the best communication state, selecting it (S156); And (S158) generating information indicating that the communication is possible. The method of claim 3, wherein Determining whether a communication state is good while performing communication with the external electronic devices (S162); If the communication state is not good, stopping communication with the external electronic devices through the selected transmission / reception module (S164); And re-executing the selection steps (S154, S156, S158).