KR20170009690A - Beacon apparatus and method for advertising of beacon frame using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a beacon apparatus and a method of transmitting a beacon frame using the same, and more particularly, to a beacon apparatus capable of repeatedly transmitting a beacon frame including a payload which is changed by changing a portion of payload information of the beacon frame and to a method of transmitting the beacon frame using the same. The beacon apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a host unit generating and transferring setting information required for change of a beacon frame payload; and a controller unit receiving the setting information from the host unit, changing the beacon frame payload based on the setting information, and transmitting a beacon frame including the changed payload according to the setting information.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a beacon apparatus,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a beacon device and a beacon frame sending method therefor, and more particularly, to a beacon device capable of repeatedly transmitting a beacon frame including a changed payload by changing partial payload information of a beacon frame, To a method of transmitting a beacon frame.

The contents described in this section merely provide background information on the present embodiment and do not constitute the prior art.

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, technologies for performing short-range wireless communication between devices located in close proximity have been rapidly developed. Among such short-range wireless communication, a Bluetooth communication method is a typical communication technology.

Such Bluetooth communication has evolved and recently, Bluetooth low energy (BLE) technology (Bluetooth 4.0) has been widely used in smart phones, retail geofencing and mobile payment. This Bluetooth low-power technology has recently attracted attention because it consumes less power than the standard Bluetooth wireless connection.

In this manner, the beacon device transmits the beacon frame within a certain radius based on the Bluetooth low-power technology, and is connected to other terminal devices scanning the beacon frame, thereby providing various additional services to the user.

The beacon device periodically transmits a beacon frame within a predetermined radius. At this time, the beacon frame transmitted periodically may be the same, but only a certain portion may be changed and transmitted.

For example, a directional beacon device is a device for increasing the positioning accuracy, and a device capable of transmitting the beacon frame more stably in a predetermined area by limiting the direction of the beacon frame. Such a directional beacon device can provide more precise targeted services by targeting beacon frames only to specific areas.

In the conventional directional beacon apparatus, only the zone information is changed in the transmitted beacon frame, and the identification information of the beacon apparatus and the position information of the beacon apparatus are the same. However, up to now, the directional beacon apparatus can not transmit the existing beacon frame again by changing only a part of the information of the beacon frame, so that a new beacon frame must be generated every time.

In other words, a general beacon device generates a beacon frame according to its internal logic. The beacon frame is generated in the host layer operating according to the software logic, the beacon frame is transmitted to the controller layer operating based on the hardware device, Is transmitted to the outside using a hardware device. In this process, repeated information transmission / reception for generating beacon frames between the host layer and the controller layer occurs, and a lot of power is consumed in the series of processes.

In recent years, attempts have been made to estimate the distance using the intensity of a transmission signal in a beacon apparatus and the intensity of a reception signal of a reception apparatus. However, until now, a beacon apparatus generates a beacon frame in which intensity information of a transmission signal is recorded , The beacon frame is transmitted by controlling the gain of the power amplifier according to the intensity information of the transmission signal described in the beacon frame. In this way, repeated beacon frame generation causes a lot of load on the beacon device, have.

Korean Patent Publication No. 2010-0127777, published on December 06, 2010 (name: frame structure for directional antenna communication and non-corning)

Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem [8] The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and provides a beacon device capable of changing only a portion of payload information of a beacon frame according to preset information, and a beacon frame transmitting method therefor There is a purpose.

Particularly, the present invention provides a beacon device capable of changing only the area information of a direction in which a beacon frame is to be transmitted to a payload of a beacon frame and transmitting the beacon frame by changing only the intensity information of the transmitted signal of the payload of the beacon frame, The beacon frame transmission method of the present invention.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a beacon device capable of transmitting a beacon frame by controlling a single-pin or multi-pin interface when transmitting a beacon frame in which only partial information of a payload is transmitted, and a method of transmitting a beacon frame therefrom have.

However, the object of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned objects, and other objects not mentioned can be clearly understood from the following description.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a beacon apparatus including: a host unit configured to generate and transmit setting information for changing a payload of a beacon frame; And a controller unit for changing the payload of the beacon frame according to the setting information when the setting information is transmitted from the host unit and transmitting a beacon frame including the changed payload according to the setting information Lt; / RTI >

Here, the controller unit may include an event controller for confirming state information of the link layer and informing the packet controller when the current state information is in an advertising state; And a controller configured to change a payload of the beacon frame according to the setting information transmitted from the host unit when information indicating that the advertisement state is received from the event controller, And a packet controller for controlling the packet controller to be transmitted through the network.

In this case, if the interface is a single-pin type interface, the beacon frame is transmitted through the single pin according to a sending period of the setting information. If the interface is a multi-pin type interface, The beacon frame can be transmitted by changing the multi-pin to a round robin or bus mode according to the beacon frame.

The payload of the beacon frame may include common information and variable information, and the controller unit may change the variable information according to the setting information to transmit a beacon frame including the changed payload.

At this time, the setting information may include information on a transmission period of the beacon frame and a change value of the payload.

In this case, if the change value of the payload is zone information on a direction in which the beacon frame is to be transmitted, the controller unit checks the directional antenna corresponding to the zone information and controls the beacon frame to be delivered to the directional antenna have.

If the change value of the payload is the strength information of the transmission signal of the beacon frame, the controller unit controls the gain of the power amplifier according to the strength information of the transmission signal, so that the beacon frame is transmitted .

In addition, the host unit and the controller unit Wherein the HCI is connected through a HCI (Host Controller Interface), and the HCI is defined by the host unit to transmit the configuration information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a beacon frame transmitting method including a host and a controller, the controller including a beacon frame generated by the host and a payload of the beacon frame, Receiving configuration information for change; Changing the payload of the beacon frame according to the setting information; And the controller sending a beacon frame including the changed payload according to the setting information.

In this case, in the transmitting step, the controller transmits the beacon frame through the interface according to the setting information, and when the interface is a single pin type interface, Frame, and if the interface is a multi-pin interface, the beacon frame can be transmitted by changing the multi-pin to a round robin or bus mode according to a transmission period of the setting information.

If the change value of the payload included in the setting information is the zone information for the direction in which the beacon frame is to be transmitted, the controller unit checks the directional antenna corresponding to the zone information, The beacon frame can be controlled to be transmitted to the antenna.

If the change value of the payload included in the setting information is intensity information of the transmission signal of the beacon frame, the controller controls the gain of the power amplifier according to the intensity information of the transmission signal, It is possible to control the beacon frame to be transmitted according to the intensity of the corresponding signal.

If the controller determines that the status information of the link layer has changed after the transmitting step, the controller may stop transmitting the beacon frame.

Further, the present invention can provide a computer-readable recording medium on which a program for executing the above-described method is recorded.

Further, the present invention can provide a computer program stored in a computer-readable recording medium which is implemented to carry out the method as described above.

According to the beacon device and the beacon frame sending method of the present invention, only a part of the payload information of the beacon frame generated according to the preset information is changed and transmitted. By using the beacon frame generated without intervention of the software layer, There is an excellent effect that the frame can be transmitted.

In other words, according to the present invention, when a beacon frame is transmitted, a beacon frame including a changed payload is changed by changing only a part of a payload in an existing generated beacon frame, so that a beacon frame can be transmitted more quickly and at a low power.

The present invention is not limited to generating beacon frames that differ only in the zone information in the implementation of the directional beacon device, but can more effectively transmit the beacon frame by using the existing beacon frame.

Further, the present invention is not limited to generating a beacon frame describing intensity information of a transmission signal at the time of transmitting a beacon frame by varying the intensity of a transmission signal of the beacon apparatus, but may also control the gain of the power amplifier using a conventional beacon frame, The beacon frame can be transmitted with a lower power and the distance from the beacon apparatus can be estimated more efficiently by using the strength of the beacon transmission signal and the intensity of the reception signal of the reception apparatus.

In addition, various effects other than the above-described effects can be directly or implicitly disclosed in the detailed description according to the embodiment of the present invention to be described later.

1 is an exemplary diagram for explaining an application example of a beacon device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
2 is an exemplary diagram for explaining an application example of the beacon device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a beacon device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a controller unit of a beacon apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a beacon protocol stack in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a beacon frame transmission method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a data flow chart for explaining a beacon frame transmitting method according to an embodiment of the present invention in more detail.
8 is a flowchart illustrating a beacon frame sending method according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention.
9 and 10 are diagrams for explaining a beacon frame sending method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
11 is a diagram for explaining a beacon frame sending method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a more complete understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

In the following description and the accompanying drawings, detailed description of well-known functions or constructions that may obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted. It should be noted that the same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals as possible throughout the drawings.

The terms and words used in the following description and drawings are not to be construed in an ordinary sense or a dictionary, and the inventor can properly define his or her invention as a concept of a term to be described in the best way It should be construed as meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments described in the present specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are merely the most preferred embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the technical ideas of the present invention are described. Therefore, It is to be understood that equivalents and modifications are possible.

Also, terms including ordinal numbers such as first, second, etc. are used to describe various elements, and are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one element from another, Not used. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the second component may be referred to as a first component, and similarly, the first component may also be referred to as a second component.

In addition, when referring to an element as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it means that it can be connected or connected logically or physically. In other words, it is to be understood that although an element may be directly connected or connected to another element, there may be other elements in between, or indirectly connected or connected.

Also, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It is also to be understood that the terms such as " comprising "or" having ", as used herein, are intended to specify the presence of stated features, integers, It should be understood that the foregoing does not preclude the presence or addition of other features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof.

In addition, embodiments within the scope of the present invention include computer readable media having or carrying computer executable instructions or data structures stored in computer readable media. Such computer-readable media can be any available media that is accessible by a general purpose or special purpose computer system. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or in the form of computer- But is not limited to, a physical storage medium such as any other medium that can be used to store or communicate certain program code means of the general purpose or special purpose computer system, .

Hereinafter, a beacon device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The beacon device according to the embodiment of the present invention can operate according to the first embodiment and the second embodiment. The first embodiment focuses on the case where the beacon apparatus of the present invention is a directional beacon apparatus including a directional antenna. In the second embodiment, the beacon apparatus of the present invention can variably control the intensity of a transmitted signal, And the case where there is a problem.

First, an application example of the beacon device according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

1 is an exemplary diagram for explaining an application example of a beacon device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the beacon apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention may be a beacon apparatus capable of transmitting a beacon frame according to a directional beacon scheme. Here, the directional beacon method means a method of transmitting a beacon frame stably in a specific direction by limiting the direction of a transmitted signal by a beacon sending method for increasing the positioning accuracy. In order to transmit the beacon frame according to the directional beacon scheme, the beacon apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a plurality of directional antennas.

Here, when the beacon apparatus 100 of the present invention includes a plurality of directional antennas, each of the plurality of directional antennas may be arranged to have different directions of orientation. And the directional direction of each of the plurality of directional antennas may include at least a vertical, horizontal, and 45-degree direction.

As shown in FIG. 1, the beacon apparatus 100 of the present invention transmits a beacon frame to a terminal (not shown) of a user located in a certain area in a specific space and transmits the beacon frame to a user terminal (not shown) And may provide targeted information. In other words, by using the same beacon frame, the user located in the area A, the user located in the area B, and the user located in the area C can be accurately recognized, and the targeted service can be provided accordingly.

The beacon device 100 of the present invention for performing this operation may be implemented as an independent device. At this time, the beacon apparatus 100 of the present invention can be installed at an optimal position to be positioned in a specific zone and transmit the beacon frame according to the direction of the direction. For example, when the beacon device 100 is installed in a closed space such as a building, the beacon device 100 of the present invention locates a ceiling or the like and transmits a beacon frame to a specific area, and a receiving device (e.g., The beacon frame transmitted to the area is scanned and received.

In addition, the beacon device 100 of the present invention may be implemented as one module in a specific device. For example, in the form of a module within the user's terminal (not shown). Here, the term '~ module' used means a software component, and '~ module' performs certain roles. By way of example, '~ module' may include components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components and task components, and processes, functions, attributes, procedures, Routines, segments of program code, drivers, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. In addition, the functions provided in the components and 'modules' may be combined into a smaller number of components and '~ modules' or further separated into additional components and 'modules'. In this case, the beacon receiver 100 of the present invention transmits the beacon frame in the direction of the beacon, and the beacon receiver (not shown) receiving the beacon frame accurately recognizes the direction in which the beacon frame is transmitted, And can provide services such as tracking a user's terminal (not shown).

In the case of the beacon apparatus 100 of this directivity type, the transmitted beacon frame may include the same information such as beacon apparatus identification information and beacon apparatus position information. However, in order to be targeted for transmission by zone, it includes information about the zone, and the zone information at this time should be changed according to the direction of sending the beacon frame.

The beacon apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention does not generate the beacon frame itself every time to transmit the beacon frame according to the directional direction but changes only the minimum information to be changed according to the direction of the beacon, And the frame is transmitted.

The operation of the beacon apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment will be described later in more detail.

Hereinafter, an application example of the beacon device according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

2 is an exemplary diagram for explaining an application example of the beacon device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

The beacon apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment of the present invention transmits the beacon frame to the receiving apparatus 200 within a predetermined radius. Here, the receiving apparatus 200 may be a user terminal, for example, and various types of apparatuses may be applied. However, in the present invention, the receiving apparatus 200 may be referred to as a receiving apparatus 200 .

In addition, the beacon apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment of the present invention can transmit beacon frames of various signal intensities. For example, the beacon apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment of the present invention can variably control the transmission signal intensity of a beacon frame such as 0 dBm, 5 dBm, 10 dBm, In order to perform the above-described operation, information about the intensity of the transmission signal is written on the field of the beacon frame, and is generated and transmitted each time. Here, the beacon identification information and the beacon position information included in the beacon frame are the same, and the intensity information of the transmitted signal is different. However, in the conventional beacon apparatus 100, a beacon frame including the same field is generated each time, There is a problem that resources can not be utilized efficiently.

Therefore, in order to solve such a problem, the beacon apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment of the present invention not only generates a new beacon frame every time but also includes only the intensity information of the transmitted signal in the payload of the previously generated beacon frame variably And controls the gain of the power amplifier to transmit the beacon frame.

Accordingly, the beacon apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment of the present invention can transmit a beacon frame having a different intensity of a transmission signal even if it does not generate the beacon frame every time unnecessarily, The accuracy of positioning of the receiving apparatus 200 using the intensity information of the intensity is increased.

The positioning process of the receiving apparatus 200 using the signal intensity information may be more specifically described as follows. That is, when the receiving apparatus 200 receives the beacon frame received signal strength (RSSI) Strength Indicator) is a well-known structure. However, at this time, the signal strength of the beacon frame transmitted from the beacon apparatus 100 may be affected by various factors such as an environment where the beacon apparatus 100 is installed, existence of obstacles such as other nearby reception apparatuses 200, The intensity of the received signal is reduced or reflected. When the receiving apparatus 200 receives the signal, the position is determined using only the intensity of the received signal. There is a problem.

Accordingly, when the beacon apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment of the present invention is applied to positional positioning, the beacon apparatus 100 can transmit a transmission signal of different signal strength to the reception apparatus 200, The apparatus 200 can perform positional positioning more accurately by confirming the transmission signal and the reception signal and performing positional positioning through pattern matching corresponding thereto.

In addition, although the receiving apparatus 200 may directly perform the positioning of the present invention, in an environment where there is a service server (not shown) for managing a plurality of beacon apparatuses 100, (Not shown) to the service server (not shown), and transmits the identification information of the beacon apparatus 100 to the beacon apparatus 100 and information about the transmit signal and the receive signal transmitted from the beacon apparatus 100 to a service server Location positioning may be performed.

The operation of the beacon apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment will be described later in more detail.

In addition, it should be noted that the beacon apparatus 100 of the present invention is not limited to the above-described two application examples, and that the configuration of the present invention can be applied to all the methods of variably processing only a part of information of a beacon frame according to a predetermined pattern Should be.

Hereinafter, the main configuration and operation method of the beacon device 100 of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a beacon apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a controller unit of a beacon apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3, a beacon apparatus 100 according to the present invention includes an application unit 110, a host unit 120, And a controller 130. The controller 130 may be a microcomputer.

The application unit 110 controls the application processing the beacon frame. At this time, the application may be an application using the Bluetooth low power technology established in the Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group).

The host unit 120 refers to logic that can be implemented in a software form for controlling the controller unit 130. The host unit 120 includes a controller such as a beacon frame signal transmission start and stop, a beacon frame scan start and stop, And may include processing logic for all functions that can be performed through the unit 130.

The controller unit 130 controls various hardware devices according to the information transmitted from the host unit 120 and transmits the results to the host unit 120. The controller unit 120 may be divided into a physical layer, which means substantial hardware, and a link layer, which can be implemented in some software form. In addition, the controller unit 120 of the present invention may include a packet controller 131 and an event controller 132 as shown in FIG. 4 according to the type of operation.

First, the packet controller 131 receives status information from the event controller 132. At this time, the packet controller 131 receives all status information such as standby status, advertisement, scanning, initialization, connection, and the like from the event controller 132 And only information indicating that the current state is an advertisement state can be received only in the advertisement state. The packet controller 131 can continuously transmit the beacon frame transmitted from the host unit 120 according to the status information transmitted from the event controller 132. For example, after the advertisement status information is delivered from the event controller 132, the packet controller 131 periodically transmits the beacon frame received from the host unit 120 until information indicating that the advertisement status is changed to another status is transmitted . In particular, the packet controller 131 of the present invention may receive configuration information from the host unit 120, and may change the payload of the beacon frame according to the setting information, and may update the beacon frame including the changed payload And to control the transmission to be synchronized and transmitted through the interface corresponding to the payload information. Here, the packet controller 131 of the present invention can transmit the beacon frame through a physical layer such as a modem.

The event controller 132 confirms the current state and performs a corresponding operation according to the confirmed state. For example, the status of a beacon can be classified into Standby, Advertising, Scanning, Initiation, and Connection. In this case, the waiting state means a waiting state for performing a scanning state after initialization of the beacon device 100, and the advertisement state is a state in which the beacon device 100 is connected to a receiving device capable of receiving a beacon frame, The beacon frame is periodically transmitted in order to transmit the beacon frame. The beacon apparatus 100 may transmit a beacon frame, for example, once a second.

The initial state refers to an initial procedure for the beacon apparatus 100 to perform a connection with a receiving apparatus, and the beacon apparatus 100 can serve as a client and a server depending on the role of the apparatus, This may be the whole process for connecting to a receiving device that receives a frame.

The event controller 132 can perform a corresponding processing operation according to the status of the beacon apparatus 100. [ For example, the event controller 132 of the present invention transmits a beacon frame if the current state is an advertisement state. If the current state is a connected state, the event controller 132 performs an operation for connection with a receiving apparatus that has scanned a beacon frame can do.

The main operation of the beacon device 100 of the present invention as described above will be described in terms of the protocol specification.

5 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a beacon protocol stack in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the beacon protocol stack of the present invention can be roughly divided into a software (SW) layer and a hardware (HW) layer. The software layer includes an application 171, a GAP (Generic Access Profile) 172, a GATT (Generic Attribute Profile) 173, an ATT (Attribute Protocol) 174, a SM (Security Manager) 175, (Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol) The application 171 connects the application and the lower layer protocol so as to utilize the lower layer protocols in executing the function using the Bluetooth, and the application unit 110 of FIG. 3 connects the applications 171, You can handle hierarchies.

The Generic Access Profile (GAP) 172 handles pairing and linking between devices. The GATT (Generic Attribute Profile) 173 is a layer that performs functions such as service search, property value determination, read and write using an ATT (Attribute Protocol) 174. The SM (Security Manager) 175 layer is a layer for processing encrypted user authentication. An L2CAP (Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol) 176 provides a logical channel for the upper layer.

The Generic Attribute Profile (GATT) 173, the ATT (Attribute Protocol) 174, the Security Manager (SM) 175 and the L2CAP 176 refer to a host layer, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > 120 < / RTI >

The hardware (HW) layer can be divided into an LL (Link Layer) 177, a Direct Test Mode 178, and a Physical Layer 179. Among these, the LL (Link Layer) 177 establishes a radio link between the two devices using a physical layer 179 and processes the status.

The LL (Link Layer) 177, the Direct Test Mode 178, and the Physical Layer 179 may be referred to as a controller (or a host controller) and may be processed by the controller 130 of FIG.

In addition, the host and the controller can perform communication through an HCI (Host Controller Interface)

The HCI 180 is a standardized interface defined by a Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group), and the application 171 can access the hardware device relatively easily through the HCI 180 regardless of the physical layer of the host controller do.

The beacon apparatus 100 according to the present invention that conforms to the Bluetooth protocol stack can handle the method of generating a beacon frame every time in a logically implemented host layer by a link layer (LL) Feature.

In other words, in a general processing beacon apparatus 100, the GATT 173 of the host layer generates a beacon frame, transmits a beacon frame through the HCI 180, and transmits a beacon frame to the HCI And transmits the generated beacon frame through the HCI 180. The beacon frame is then transmitted to the beacon frame 180 via the HCI 180,

However, if the beacon device 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention transmits the beacon frame and the configuration information generated from the host layer to the hardware layer, the LL 177 of the hardware layer generates a part of the beacon frame The changed beacon frame can be transmitted through the hardware device without changing the payload and transmitting / receiving information to / from the host layer through the HCI 180.

Therefore, the beacon apparatus 100 of the present invention minimizes the power consumption by minimizing the intervention of the host layer, and can prevent the overload that may occur in the host layer in advance.

A more concrete method of transmitting a beacon frame in the beacon apparatus 100 will be described later, and a processor mounted in the beacon apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention processes a program command for executing the method according to the present invention can do. In one implementation, the processor may be a single-threaded processor, and in other embodiments, the processor may be a multithreaded processor. Further, the processor is capable of processing instructions stored on a memory or storage device.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the host unit 120 and the controller unit 130 shown in FIG. 3 are included in a single device. However, the host unit 120 and the controller 130 are not limited thereto. The units 130 may be implemented in a form independent of each other. That is, a personal computer, a portable terminal, and the like can perform the role of the host unit 120, and the controller unit 130, which can be connected to the host unit 120 through the Bluetooth communication method, can only transmit a beacon frame .

The main configuration of the beacon device 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention has been described above. It should be noted, however, that the beacon device 100 may be implemented by more components than the components shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. For example, the beacon apparatus 100 of the present invention may include a directional antenna, and may further include an antenna processing unit (not shown) for transmitting a beacon frame to the directional antenna. At this time, the antenna processing unit (not shown) may support the process of transmitting the beacon frame through the directional antenna sequentially or in various ways under the control of the controller unit 130. [ In addition, the beacon apparatus 100 of the present invention may include a power amplifier including a gain controller. The power amplifier may variably adjust a signal strength of a beacon frame according to the control of the controller unit 130, As shown in FIG.

In addition, the beacon apparatus 100 of the present invention may constitute a beacon module together with a switch for controlling switching of the directional antenna and the directional antenna described above, or may form a beacon module together with a power amplifier.

Although the present specification and drawings describe exemplary device configurations, the functional operations and subject matter implementations described herein may be embodied in other types of digital electronic circuitry, or alternatively, of the structures disclosed herein and their structural equivalents May be embodied in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including, or in combination with, one or more of the foregoing. Implementations of the subject matter described herein may be embodied in one or more computer program products, i. E. One for computer program instructions encoded on a program storage medium of the type for < RTI ID = 0.0 & And can be implemented as a module as described above. The computer-readable medium can be a machine-readable storage device, a machine-readable storage substrate, a memory device, a composition of matter that affects the machine readable propagation type signal, or a combination of one or more of the foregoing.

Hereinafter, a method for transmitting a beacon frame according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a beacon frame transmission method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, a beacon apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention generates a beacon frame. A beacon frame according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a payload, and the payload includes common information and variable information. Here, the common information means information to be transmitted in common for each beacon frame. For example, identification information or location information of the beacon apparatus 100 may be applicable. On the other hand, the variable information is information that varies for each beacon frame, and in one embodiment, it may be a zone identification number or identification information for a plurality of directional antennas as information on a direction or a zone to be transmitted. In yet another embodiment, the variable information may be intensity information of the transmitted signal.

Here, the common information to be transmitted by the beacon apparatus 100 may be written in all the beacon frames, but the variable information must be set differently for each beacon frame and transmitted.

The beacon apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention generates a beacon frame every time the beacon apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention generates beacon frames (S103), changes only the information necessary for the payload (S105) according to the setting information (S105), and transmits the beacon frame including the changed payload in synchronization with the setting information (S107).

In the beacon device 100, which is divided into a host layer, which is a software layer, and a controller layer, which is a hardware layer, The process of changing only the information necessary for the payload according to the information is performed in the controller layer, so that the load concentrated on the host layer can be prevented in advance.

The above process will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 7 to 11. FIG.

7 is a data flow chart for explaining a beacon frame transmitting method according to an embodiment of the present invention in more detail.

Referring to FIG. 7, the beacon apparatus 100 of the present invention includes a host unit 120 that operates in software and a controller unit 130 that can access and process the hardware layer, as described with reference to FIG. .

The host unit 120 generates a beacon frame according to a predetermined algorithm and generates setting information (S201 to S203). Here, the setting information may include information on a dispatch cycle and a payload change value to be transmitted by the controller unit 130 in a beacon frame.

The beacon frame of the present invention is divided into a header and a payload, and the payload is a portion where substantial data is input. In particular, the payload of the present invention may include common information common to all beacon frames and variable information changed for each beacon frame. Here, the common information may include identification information of the beacon device 100, . ≪ / RTI > On the other hand, the variable information is information on a direction or a zone to be transmitted in one embodiment, and may be a zone identification number or identification information for a plurality of directional antennas. In yet another embodiment, the variable information may be intensity information of the transmitted signal.

The controller unit 130 of the present invention receives the beacon frame and the setting information transmitted from the host unit 120 and confirms current status information (S2078). If it is determined that the current state information is in the advertisement state (S209), the payload of the received beacon frame is checked and transmitted (S211). In step S213, the payload is changed based on the transmission period included in the setup information and the change value of the payload when the next beacon frame is transmitted according to the setup information. Here, the period refers to the transmission period of the beacon frame, and the change value is a change value for the variable information of the payload and can be a byte format.

The controller unit 130 of the present invention changes the payload according to the setting information, and transmits a beacon frame including the changed payload according to the setting information (S215).

In one embodiment of the present invention, the controller unit 130 checks the payload change value included in the setting information, and when the payload change value is zone information indicating a certain zone, The directional antenna responsible for transmitting the beacon frame of one zone is checked and the beacon frame is blocked from being transmitted to the other directional antenna, and the process of transmitting the beacon frame to the directional antenna is controlled.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the controller unit 130 checks the payload change value included in the setting information, and when the payload change value is intensity information of the transmission signal, the controller unit 130 transmits the transmission signal The gain of the power amplifier may be controlled according to the intensity of the beacon frame to support the process of transmitting the beacon frame according to the magnitude of the signal. In addition, when the payload change value is intensity information of a transmission signal, the strength of the transmission signal may take an absolute value form and take a variable value form. If the variable value is a variable value, the controller unit 130 may support a process of transmitting a beacon frame that has been increased or decreased by the variable value in the transmission signal size of the previous beacon frame.

This process can be continued until the state of the controller unit 130 is changed (S217). In other words, if the beacon apparatus 100 periodically transmits the beacon frame according to the payload information and then connects to the specific receiving apparatus scanned, the beacon apparatus 100 changes from the advertisement state to the connected state, The controller unit 130 can control the beacon frame not to be transmitted any more.

The beacon frame transmission method according to the embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

The operation of the beacon device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may be performed in a different manner. The beacon apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment refers to a case where a beacon frame is transmitted to a designated zone, and the beacon apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment can variably control the intensity of a transmitted signal, , And the specific operation is performed differently according to the application example.

This will be described in more detail.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a beacon frame transmitting method according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention. FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate an example of a beacon frame transmitting method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 11 is a diagram for explaining a beacon frame sending method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, a beacon apparatus 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a host unit 120 that operates in software, a controller The host unit 120 generates a beacon frame according to a predetermined algorithm (S301) and generates setting information (S3031). Here, the setting information may include information on a dispatch cycle and a payload change value to be transmitted by the controller unit 130 in a beacon frame.

The beacon frame of the present invention is divided into a header and a payload, and the payload is a portion where substantial data is input. In particular, the payload of the present invention may include common information common to all beacon frames and variable information changed for each beacon frame. Here, the common information may include identification information of the beacon device 100, . ≪ / RTI >

On the other hand, the variable information means that the variable information is changed in accordance with the setting information every frame. In the first embodiment, the information about the direction or zone to be transmitted may be the zone identification number or the identification information for a plurality of directional antennas , And the intensity information of the transmission signal in the second embodiment.

In step S303, the host unit 120 of the beacon apparatus 100 includes a change value of a payload including zone information on a direction in which a beacon frame is to be transmitted, and a transmission period And transmits the beacon frame and the setting information generated in step S301 to the controller unit S130 of the beacon apparatus 100. [ At this time, the host unit 120 may transmit the beacon frame to the controller unit 130 first, and thereafter, generate the configuration information and transmit the configuration information to the controller unit 130.

When the beacon frame and the setting information transmitted from the host unit 120 are received, the controller unit 130 confirms the current status information, checks the payload of the received beacon frame, do. The controller unit 130 changes the payload based on the transmission period and the payload change value included in the setup information when the next beacon frame is transmitted according to the setup information. The controller unit 130 includes the setup information The payload change value is changed according to the setting information (S313), the directional antenna corresponding to the payload change value is confirmed (S315) , And controls to transmit the beacon frame to the identified directional antenna (S317).

The first embodiment will be described with reference to the example diagrams of Figs. 7 and 8. A diagram shown in Fig. 7A means a beacon frame. At this time, the beacon frame may be constructed by including the same position information and variable information, i.e., section information (Section 0, Section 1, Section 2, ...), in the payload as indicated by (b). At this time, the location information is common information that is equally included in all beacon frames. On the other hand, the zone information means variable information which is set differently for each beacon frame.

The beacon device 100 of the present invention generates a beacon frame in which the controller of the hardware layer changes only the zone information which is variable information according to the setting information generated by the host of the software layer, A beacon frame may be generated by modifying only the zone information in the corresponding portion and controlled to be transmitted through the corresponding directional antenna. That is, as shown in (d), a beacon frame having a zone information of 0 can be transmitted through an antenna A. A beacon frame having a zone information of 1 is transmitted through an antenna B and an antenna C having a zone information of 2 Lt; / RTI >

In addition, the beacon apparatus 100 in the above-described embodiment may be configured to include a plurality of directional antennas. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, when a beacon frame is to be transmitted in different directions through three directional antennas, it is necessary to control the beacon frame.

That is, FIG. 8A shows a single-pin scheme. In the single-pin scheme, the beacon frame transmitted by the BLE module 150, which performs the function of the beacon device 100, It can be sequentially transmitted to the corresponding directional antenna.

On the other hand, as shown in (b), in the multi-pin scheme, the switch 160 can transmit the directional antenna according to a predetermined scheduling scheme such as a round robin scheme or a bus scheme.

Referring to FIG. 8 again, the beacon frame transmission method according to the second embodiment will be described. In step S303, the host unit 120 of the beacon apparatus 100 transmits a payload change value including transmission signal strength information, And transmits the beacon frame and the setting information generated in step S301 to the controller unit S130 of the beacon apparatus 100. [ At this time, the host unit 120 may transmit the beacon frame to the controller unit 130 first, and thereafter, generate the configuration information and transmit the configuration information to the controller unit 130.

When the beacon frame and the setting information transmitted from the host unit 120 are received, the controller unit 130 confirms the current status information, checks the payload of the received beacon frame, do. The controller unit 130 changes the payload based on the transmission period and the payload change value included in the setup information when the next beacon frame is transmitted according to the setup information. The controller unit 130 includes the setup information The controller unit 130 changes the payload according to the setting information (S323), and controls the gain of the power amplifier in accordance with the payload change value, since the payload change value is the intensity information of the transmission signal of the beacon frame (S321) So that the beacon frame is transmitted according to the intensity of the corresponding signal (S325).

Here, the intensity of the transmission signal, which is the payload change value, can take an absolute value form and take a variable value form. If the variable value is a variable value, the controller 130 controls the gain of the power amplifier to be increased or decreased by the variable value in the transmission signal amplitude of the previous beacon frame, and controls the beacon frame to be transmitted according to the signal strength.

11, the BLE module 150 that performs the function of the beacon device 100 may include a power amplifier 170 including the gain control unit 171, and may include a BLE module The controller 130 of the controller 150 controls the gain of the gain controller 171 of the connected power amplifier 170 to control the beacon frame to be transmitted according to the corresponding signal strength.

2, the receiving apparatus 200 receives a beacon frame having signal strengths of different sizes from the beacon apparatus 100, as shown in FIG. 2, , The strength information of the transmission signal included in the payload of the beacon frame is checked and the strength of the received signal is measured and then the position is determined through pattern matching with the intensity of the transmission signal and the reception signal, More accurate positional positioning becomes possible as compared with the conventional method using only the intensity.

For example, the receiving apparatus 200 may store the following pattern information.

TX RX 10 4 5 0 0 -2

TX RX 10 0 5 -3 0 -4

TX RX 10 4 5 2 0 One

Table 1 shows an example of a pattern when the distance between the beacon device 100 and the receiving device 200 is 5 m and Table 2 shows a pattern when the distance between the beacon device 100 and the receiving device 200 is 10m is an example of the pattern when the distance between the beacon apparatus 100 and the receiving apparatus 200 is 2m.

The receiving apparatus 200 receives a beacon frame having a different signal strength from the beacon apparatus 100, confirms strength information of the transmitted signal included in the payload of the beacon frame, measures the strength of the received signal The distance between the beacon device 100 and the receiving device 200 can be checked through pattern matching as shown in the above table and the position of the beacon device 100 can be checked The position of the receiving apparatus 200 can be positioned more accurately than when positioning is performed using only the received signal strength of the receiving apparatus 200. [

Here, the receiving apparatus 200 may perform the positioning process directly by the receiving apparatus 200, but in an environment where there is a service server (not shown) managing the plurality of beacon apparatuses 100, The apparatus 200 transmits identification information of the beacon apparatus 100 and information on a transmission signal and a reception signal transmitted from the beacon apparatus 100 to a service server (not shown), and a service server (not shown) It is possible to perform positional positioning with respect to the receiving apparatus 200 and positional positioning process through interlocking between the receiving apparatus 200 and a service server (not shown).

The beacon frame sending method according to the embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

The beacon frame transmission method according to an embodiment of the present invention has been described on the assumption that the beacon device 100 is a directional positioning beacon device or a beacon device that can transmit and adjust a transmission signal variably. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the configuration of the present invention can be applied to all methods of variably processing only partial information of a beacon frame according to a predetermined pattern.

The beacon apparatus 100 according to the present invention can transmit a beacon frame by maximizing the generated beacon frame without waste of resources, and can transmit a beacon frame to the beacon apparatus 100 divided into a host layer as a software layer and a controller layer as a hardware layer 100, the process of changing only the information necessary for the payload according to the setting information is performed in the controller layer, so that the load concentrated on the host layer can be prevented in advance.

The beacon frame sending method of the present invention as described above may be provided in the form of a computer readable medium suitable for storing computer program instructions and data. A program recorded on a recording medium for implementing a beacon frame sending method according to an embodiment of the present invention is a beacon apparatus including a host and a controller, wherein the controller controls the beacon frame generated by the host and the beacon frame The method comprising the steps of: receiving configuration information for changing a payload; changing a payload of the beacon frame according to the setting information; and transmitting the beacon frame including the changed payload according to the payload information And a step of sending out data.

Such computer-readable media suitable for storing computer program instructions and data include, for example, magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tape, compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) Optical media such as a DVD (Digital Video Disk), a magneto-optical medium such as a floppy disk, and a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM , Random Access Memory), flash memory, EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), and EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM). The processor and memory may be supplemented by, or incorporated in, special purpose logic circuits.

The computer readable recording medium may also be distributed over a networked computer system so that computer readable code can be stored and executed in a distributed manner. The functional program for implementing the present invention and the related code and code segment may be implemented by programmers in the technical field of the present invention in consideration of the system environment of the computer that reads the recording medium and executes the program, Or may be easily modified or modified by the user.

In addition, a computer program recorded on a computer-readable recording medium as described above includes instructions for performing the functions as described above, distributed and distributed through a recording medium, read and installed in a specific device, a specific computer, Thereby performing the above-described functions.

In order to allow the computer to read the program recorded on the recording medium and to execute the functions implemented by the program, the computer program described above may be stored in a computer such as a C, C ++ , JAVA, machine language, and the like, and code for a program command encoded in a computer language.

The code may include a function code related to a function or the like that defines the functions described above and may include an execution procedure related control code necessary for the processor of the computer to execute the functions described above according to a predetermined procedure. In addition, such code may further include memory reference related code as to what additional information or media needed to cause the processor of the computer to execute the aforementioned functions should be referenced at any location (address) of the internal or external memory of the computer . In addition, when a processor of a computer needs to communicate with any other computer or server that is remote to execute the above-described functions, the code may be stored in a memory of the computer using a communication module of the computer, It may further include a communication-related code such as how to communicate with another computer or a server, and what information or media should be transmitted or received during communication.

While the specification contains a number of specific implementation details, it should be understood that they are not to be construed as limitations on the scope of any invention or claim, but rather on the description of features that may be specific to a particular embodiment of a particular invention Should be understood. Certain features described herein in the context of separate embodiments may be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments, either individually or in any suitable subcombination. Further, although the features may operate in a particular combination and may be initially described as so claimed, one or more features from the claimed combination may in some cases be excluded from the combination, Or a variant of a subcombination.

Likewise, although the operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, it should be understood that such operations must be performed in that particular order or sequential order shown to achieve the desired result, or that all illustrated operations should be performed. In certain cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Also, the separation of the various system components of the above-described embodiments should not be understood as requiring such separation in all embodiments, and the described program components and systems will generally be integrated together into a single software product or packaged into multiple software products It should be understood.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a beacon device and a beacon frame sending method therefor, and more particularly, to a beacon device capable of repeatedly transmitting a beacon frame including a changed payload by changing partial payload information of a beacon frame, To a method of transmitting a beacon frame.

According to the present invention, a part of a payload of a beacon frame is directly changed in a controller, which is a hardware layer, to transmit a beacon frame, so that a software layer does not need to intervene in a host and a beacon frame can be generated and transmitted with lower power, It can contribute to the development of beacon service industry.

In addition, since the present invention is not only possible to be marketed or operated, but also can be practically and practically carried out, it is industrially applicable.

100: Beacon device
110:
120:
130:
131: Packet Controller
132: Event Controller

Claims (15)

A host unit for generating and transmitting setting information for changing a payload of a beacon frame; And
A controller unit for changing a payload of the beacon frame according to the setting information when the setting information is transmitted from the host unit and sending a beacon frame including the changed payload according to the setting information;
≪ / RTI > The method according to claim 1,
The controller unit
An event controller for confirming state information of the link layer and informing the packet controller when the confirmed current state information is an advertisement state; And
Wherein when the beacon frame is received from the event controller, the payload of the beacon frame is changed according to the setting information transmitted from the host unit, and a beacon frame including the changed payload is transmitted to the interface A packet controller for controlling the packet controller to be transmitted through the packet controller;
≪ / RTI > 3. The method of claim 2,
If the interface is a single-pinned interface,
And transmits the beacon frame through the single pin according to a transmission period of the setting information,
When the interface is a multi-pin interface,
And transmits the beacon frame by changing the multi-pin to a round-robin or bus mode according to a transmission period of the setting information. The method according to claim 1,
The payload of the beacon frame
Comprising common information and variable information,
Wherein the controller unit changes the variable information according to the setting information and transmits a beacon frame including the changed payload. The method according to claim 1,
The setting information
A transmission period of the beacon frame, and a change value of the payload. 6. The method of claim 5,
If the changed value of the payload is the zone information for the direction in which the beacon frame is to be transmitted
Wherein the controller confirms the directional antenna corresponding to the zone information and controls the beacon frame to be transmitted to the directional antenna. 6. The method of claim 5,
When the changed value of the payload is the intensity information of the transmission signal of the beacon frame,
Wherein the controller controls the gain of the power amplifier according to intensity information of the transmission signal to control the beacon frame to be transmitted according to the strength of the signal. The method according to claim 1,
The host unit and the controller unit Wherein the HCI is connected through a HCI (Host Controller Interface), and the HCI is defined by the host unit to transmit the configuration information. A beacon device comprising a host and a controller,
The controller receiving configuration information for changing a beacon frame generated by the host and a payload of the beacon frame;
Changing the payload of the beacon frame according to the setting information; And
The controller transmitting a beacon frame including the changed payload according to the setting information;
And transmitting the beacon frame. 10. The method of claim 9,
The transmitting step
The controller transmits the beacon frame through the interface according to the setting information,
And transmitting the beacon frame through the single pin according to a transmission period of the setting information when the interface is a single-pin type interface,
Wherein if the interface is a multi-pin interface, the beacon frame is transmitted by changing the multi-pin to a round robin or bus mode according to a transmission period of the setting information. 10. The method of claim 9,
When the change value of the payload included in the setting information is the zone information for the direction in which the beacon frame is to be transmitted,
The transmitting step
Wherein the controller unit identifies the directional antenna corresponding to the zone information and controls the beacon frame to be transmitted to the directional antenna. 10. The method of claim 9,
When the change value of the payload included in the setting information is intensity information of the transmission signal of the beacon frame,
The transmitting step
Wherein the controller controls the gain of the power amplifier according to intensity information of the transmission signal to control the beacon frame to be transmitted according to the intensity of the signal. 10. The method of claim 9,
After the transmitting step
Wherein the controller stops transmission of the beacon frame if it is determined that the state information of the link layer is changed. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for executing the method according to any one of claims 9 to 13. 14. A computer program embodied on a computer readable recording medium which is embodied to execute the method recited in any one of claims 9 to 13.

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