WO2019041339A1

WO2019041339A1 - Apparatus and method for one-shot wifi connection in vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2019041339A1
Application number: PCT/CN2017/100347
Authority: WO
Inventors: Wenhui Lei; Sam Lai; Laney ZHANG
Original assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
Priority date: 2017-09-04
Filing date: 2017-09-04
Publication date: 2019-03-07
Also published as: CN110892739A; CN110892739B; EP3679731A1; EP3679731A4

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an apparatus and method for one-shot WIFI connection in vehicle. The method comprises the following steps: identifying a wireless communication device near the routing apparatus; determining a distance between the wireless communication device and the routing apparatus and an angle of arrival of the signal received from the wireless communication device; permitting a connection with the wireless communication device, if the position decided by the determined distance and the determined angle of arrival is within a predetermined space.

Description

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ONE-SHOT WIFI CONNECTION IN VEHICLE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates in general to WIFI connection, and in more particular, to a routing apparatus and a method used therein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In recent years, mobile internet time has come. People could use mobile internet without a cable. People enjoy the convenience of kinds of services from mobile internet and are addicted to it, and hope they could access to internet anytime and anywhere, including in a vehicle. Meanwhile, On-demand Mobility (ODM) service is booming. In an ODM vehicle, the vehicle doesn’ t belong to the passenger, and the passenger change different car every day for commute or travel, and they still hope to access to internet in car conveniently and safely.

An existing solution is installing a WIFI router in vehilce. But in such a case, in order to access to internet, the passenger has to select a desired WIFI router via a user interface on his mobile phone and type the password into the phone. Such typing operation might be troublesome, especially for the use of the ODM vehicles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure aims to provide a new and improved apparatus and method used in a WIFI router.

In accordance with a first exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a method used in a routing apparatus is provided, comprising: identifying a wireless communication device near the routing apparatus； determining a distance between the wireless communication device and the routing apparatus and an angle of arrival of the signal received from the wireless communication device； and permitting a connection with the wireless communication device, if the position decided by the determined distance and the determined angle of arrival is within a predetermined space.

In an example of the present embodiment, the predetermined space may be configurable. The predetermined space may be a sphere space with a predetermined radius. In a case wherein the routing apparatus is an on-vehicle WIFI router, the predetermined space may approximately match an inside space of vehicle in which the on-vehicle WIFI router is mounted.

In another example of the present embodiment, the above method may further comprise: establishing the connection with the wireless communication device if the connection is permitted； and terminating the connection with the wireless communication device if the position decided by the determined distance and the determined angle of arrival is out of the predetermined space. The connection may be established in response to a confirmation of user of the wireless communication device which indicates the user’s desire to connect with the routing apparatus.

In another example of the present embodiment, the distance may be determined according to at least one of the RSSI, the phase, and the delay of the signal received from the wireless communication device. And, the angle of arrival may be determined according to the difference of the phases of the signals received by two or more antennas at the routing apparatus.

In accordance with a second exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a routing apparatus is provided, comprising: modules for performing the steps of the above mentioned method. Further, a routing apparatus is provided, comprising: a memory storing computer executable instructions, and a processor for performing the steps of the above mentioned method via executing the computer executable instructions.

In accordance with a third exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a vehicle or robot comprising the above mentioned routing apparatus is provided.

In accordance with a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer readable medium is provided.

In accordance with a fifth exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a routing system comprising the above mentioned routing apparatus and the wireless communication device is provided. Further, a routing system comprising the above mentioned routing apparatus and a remote sever is provided.

Further scope of applicability of the present disclosure will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the present disclosure. Note that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.

Fig. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a routing apparatus in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figs. 2A and 2B illustrate two examples wherein a permissible access space is configured according to the inside space of a vehicle in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 illustrates a flow chart showing a method used in a routing apparatus in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 illustrates a general hardware environment wherein the present disclosure is applicable in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the described exemplary embodiments. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the described embodiments can be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other exemplary embodiments, well known structures or process steps have not been described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the concept of the present disclosure.

The term “vehicle” used through the specification refers to a motor vehicle which comprises but is not limited to a car, a truck, a bus, or the like. The term “A or B” used through the specification refers to “A and B” and “A or B” rather than meaning that A and B are exclusive, unless otherwise specified.

In the following description, a case wherein an on-vehicle WIFI router (corresponding to the router apparatus) determines whether to connect with a mobile phone (corresponding to the wireless communication device) is described. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. The router apparatus of the present disclosure may be a WIFI router used in other application environments. And the wireless communication device of the present disclosure may be any portable electronic device with a networking function, such as notebook, tablet computer, or the like.

Referring first to Fig. 1, there is shown a block diagram of an on-vehicle WIFI router 100 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The blocks of the router 100 may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof to carry out the principles of the present disclosure. It is understood by those skilled in the art that the blocks described in Fig. 1 may be combined or separated into sub-blocks to implement the principles of the present disclosure as described above. Therefore, the description herein may support any possible combination or separation or further definition of the blocks described herein.

The on-vehicle WIFI router 100 comprises an identification module 110 configured to identify a mobile phone near the on-vehicle WIFI router； a detection module 120 configured to determine a distance between the mobile phone and the on-vehicle WIFI router and an angle of arrival of the signal received from the mobile phone； a connection determination module 130 configured to determine whether to permit a connection with the mobile phone； and a connection establishing module 140 configured to establish or terminate a connection with the mobile phone.

The implementation of the on-vehicle WIFI router 100 will be described in detail with reference to Fig. 4.

The identification module 110 may identify a mobile phone when it is nearby (e.g., within 5 meters) . The identification module 110 may identify the mobile phone by receiving a Probe request automatically sent by the mobile phone. Alternatively, the identification module 110 may identify the mobile phone by transmitting a Beacon frame to the mobile phone. The other existing methods may be used to identify or discover or sniff the mobile phone.

The detection module 120 may determine a distance between the mobile phone and the on-vehicle WIFI router, referred to hereinafter as the distance D. The detection module 120 may further determine an angle of arrival of the signal received from the mobile phone, referred to hereinafter as the angle of arrival θ. In one embodiment, the detection module 120 may determine a pair of physical quantities (D, θ) , which represents the position of the mobile phone with respect to the on-vehicle WIFI router.

The distance D may be determined according to at least one of the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) , the phase, and the delay of the signal received from the mobile phone. In one embodiment, the distance D is determined according to the RSSI of the signal received from the mobile phone. Given that the transmitting power of the signal transmitted by the mobile phone is known, based on the receiving power of the signal received by the WIFI router, the propagation loss of the signal may be calculated, and then the distance may be determined from this propagation loss. In one example, the value of RSSI decreases as the distance D increases according to the following equation:

RSSI＝ - (10nlog₁₀D + A)

wherein n is a signal propagation constant which depends on signal propagation environment, and A is a signal strength value at a 1 meter distance from transmitting node, which is measured in advance. In according with the above equation, the distance D between the mobile phone and the WIFI router may be determined, i.e., D ＝10^ ( (ABS (RSSI) -A) / (10*n)) . Note that, the present disclosure is not limited to this, and any existing ranging method may be employed here. For example, the distance between the mobile phone and the WIFI router may also be determined according to the phase or the delay or the like of the signal received from the mobile phone.

Since the distance D is determined in accordance with the properties of the received signal, thus the distance D takes the impact of obstacle between the mobile phone and the WIFI router into consideration, if there is any obstacle. For example, if the housing (metal or glass) of the vehicle locates between the mobile phone and the WIFI router, then the determined distance D will be much longer than the actual physical distance.

The angle of arrival θ may be determined according to the difference of the phases of the signals received by two or more antennas at the on-vehicle WIFI router. The antennas here may be built in the on-vehicle WIFI router. In one example, the angle of arrival θ may be calculated in accordance with the following equation:

θ＝cos^-1 (KΔλ/C)

wherein K is a constant, Δλ is the difference of the phases of the signals received by two antennas at the router from the mobile phone, and C is the distance between the two antennas. Note that the present disclosure is not limited to this, any existing methods for determining the angle of arrival may be employed.

The connection determination module 130 may determine whether to permit a connection with the mobile phone. In one embodiment, if the position (D, θ) decided by the determined distance D and the determined angle of arrival θ is within a predetermined space, the connection with the mobile phone is permitted. Or otherwise, the connection will not be permitted and then be terminated.

The connection establishing module 140 may establish the connection with the mobile phone if the connection is permitted. And, the connection establishing module 140 may terminate the connection with the mobile phone if the position (D, θ) is out of the predetermined space. Alternatively, the connection establishing module 140 may terminate the connection with the mobile phone if the user of the mobile phone does not desire to connect. Further, the connection establishing module 140 may hold a unique identifier of the mobile phone into a memory if the connection is established.

On the one hand, the WIFI router 100 may communicate with the mobile phone so as to complete the access procedure of the mobile phone. On the other hand, the WIFI router 100 may communicate with a remote server, e.g., a cloud sever, to transmit and receive necessary information.

The predetermined space may be configurable. In one embodiment, the predetermined space may be a sphere space with a predetermined radius. In another embodiment, the predetermined space may approximately match an inside space of vehicle in which the on-vehicle WIFI router is mounted. In fact, the predetermined space may vary from vehicle to vehicle. In other words, the predetermined space may be configured as needed.

Below, the connection determination operations performed by the module 130 will be described in detail with reference to Figs. 2A and 2B. Figs. 2A and 2B illustrate two examples wherein a permissible access space is configured according to inside space of a vehicle in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

In Figs. 2A and 2B, the solid border 210 represents a top view of an inside space of a vehicle. The inside space here refers to a space within the out casing of the vehicle, within which the passenger (including the driver) may conduct a networking behavior. In one embodiment, the upper side border of the solid border represents the position of the front side of the front windshield of the vehicle, while the lower side border of the solid border represents the position of the rear side of the rear windshield of the vehicle. The left side and right side borders correspond to the left and right casing parts of the vehicle, respectively. The dashed

border

220, 230 represents the predetermined space within which the access to the WIFI router will be permitted. The solid dot in each of Figs. 2A and 2B represents the position of the WIFI router.

In Fig. 2A, as indicated by the dashed border 220, the predetermined space is a sphere with its center at the center of the inside space of the vehicle and with a sphere radius R. As shown by the solid dot, the WIFI router is positioned at the center of the sphere. For example, the WIFI router is mounted at a position between the front two seats of the vehicle. In this case, the sphere radius R may be about a half of the width of the vehicle body. Note that the present disclosure is not limited to this, and the sphere radius R may be any suitable value.

Below, two scenarios wherein the WIFI router 100 performs operations will be described.

In the first scenario, when a passenger gets on the vehicle, his/her mobile phone may be identified by the identification module 110 of the WIFI router. When the passenger selects the WIFI router, e.g, clicking the identifier of the router with his/her finger, via a user interface on his/her mobile phone, an authentication process is initiated between the mobile phone and the WIFI router. During this authentication process, the detection module 120 detects the pair of physical quantities (D, θ) , and outputs (D, θ) to the connection determination module 130. The connection determination module 130 determines whether the position of the mobile phone (i.e., the position decided by (D, θ) ) is within, e.g., the sphere space as shown in Fig. 2A. If yes, the connection determination module 130 permits the connection. Then, the connection establishing module 140 establishes the connection with the mobile phone. Or otherwise the connection determination module 130 refuses the connection and then the connection establishing module 140 terminates the connection.

In this first scenario, the mobile phone may get access to the WIFI router without requiring the user (i.e., the passenger) of the mobile phone to type any password. What needs to do by the user merely is selecting the WIFI router that he/she desires to connect. Thus, the operation needed for getting access to the WIFI router is simplified. Meanwhile, the safety for the provider of the WIFI router may be guaranteed.

In the second scenario, when a passenger gets on the vehicle, his/her mobile phone may be identified by the identification module 110 of the WIFI router. After the identification process, an authentication process is automatically initiated between the mobile phone and the WIFI router. During this authentication process, the detection module 120 detects the pair of physical quantities (D, θ) , and outputs (D, θ) to the connection determination module 130. The connection determination module 130 determines whether the position of the mobile phone (i.e., the position decided by (D, θ) ) is within, e.g., the sphere space as shown in Fig. 2A. If yes, the connection determination module 130 permits the connection. Then, at the mobile phone side, an inquiry may be displayed to the passenger (or the user of the mobile phone) via a pop-up window on the mobile phone, such as “do you want to connect to the WIFI？ ” . For example, such pop-up window may comprise the above-mentioned inquiry and two soft buttons, i.e., a YES button and a NO button for user selection. If a positive response is received from the user, i.e., the YES button is pressed, then the connection establishing module 140 establishes the connection with the mobile phone. On the contrary, if a negative response is received from the user, i.e., the NO button is pressed, then the connection establishing module 140 terminates the connection.

The pop-up window on the mobile phone mentioned here may be achieved, for example, by an application installed on the mobile phone. In one example, this application pushes the pop-up window in response to receiving an authentication response from the WIFI router. The authentication response indicates that the WIFI router permits the connection.

In this second scenario, the mobile phone also may get access to the WIFI router without requiring the user of the mobile phone to type any password. By pushing an inquiry, which questions whether the user desires to connect with the router or not, to the user, what needs to do by the user merely is clicking a YES or NO button. Thus, the operation needed for getting access to the WIFI router is further simplified. Meanwhile, the safety for the provider of the WIFI router may also be guaranteed.

In both the first and second scenarios, in order to get access to the WIFI router, it merely needs one action from the user, i.e., clicking the identifier of the desired router, or clicking a soft button. In other words, one-shot WIFI connection in vehicle is achieved.

Note that the present disclosure is not limited to the above two scenarios. Other communication scenarios between the WIFI router and the mobile phone are conceivable.

Also note that, with respect to the example of Fig. 2A, when determining whether the access to the router is permissible, there is no requirement on the angle of arrival θ. That is, whatever the angle of arrival θ is, as long as the distance D is less than the sphere radius R, the connection is permitted. In other words, in this specific case, the detection module 120 may not detect the angle of arrival θ, and the connection determination module 130 may make the determination merely based on the distance D.

In Fig. 2B, as indicated by the dashed border 230, the predetermined space is a cuboid space that that approximately matches an inside space of vehicle. As shown by the solid dot, the WIFI router is mounted at the middle position of the front side of the inside space of the vehicle. Actually, the dashed border 230 indicates a horizontal section view of the predetermined space. The cuboid space has a height in the direction that is perpendicular to the paper plane. Such height will approximately match the height of the vehicle body, i.e., a height from the bottom to the ceiling of the vehicle. For example, such height might be, e.g., the height of the vehicle body ±10 cm.

The predetermined space shown in Fig. 2B may be represented by a group of polar coordinates of some or all of the points comprising the boundary of the space. The pole of the polar coordinate will be the position of the WIFI router. Taking the points P1, P2 as an example, each of which locates at the boundary of the predetermined space, their polar coordinate representations may be (D₁, θ₁) and (D₂, θ₂) , respectively. With use of the above mentioned group of polar coordinates, the predetermined space may be defined. This group of polar coordinates may be generated in advance by measuring the size of the inside space of the vehicle, and may be stored in advance into a memory of the WIFI router. The stored group of polar coordinates may be used for the determination of the module 130. Incidentally, the sphere radius R may be generated and stored in a similar way.

With use of the predetermined space as shown in Fig. 2B, the mobile phone at an arbitrary position within the vehicle may get access to the WIFI router. While, for example, a mobile phone that locates in front of the vehicle cannot get access to the WIFI router, even if it is nearby. This is mainly because its angle of arrival θ is out of the permissible range. And, a mobile phone that locates in the rear of the vehicle cannot get access to the WIFI router, either. This is mainly because its distance D is out of the permissible range. Further, as mentioned previously, the distance D takes the impact of obstacle into consideration. Thus, if a mobile phone is out of vehicle, that is, the housing of the vehicle will be between the mobile phone and the router, this mobile phone will be more likely to be denied to get connected. This is mainly because the distance D determined by the module 120 will be much longer than the actual physical distance between the mobile phone and the router.

Note that, although in Fig. 2B, it is shown that the predetermined space is slightly larger than the inside space of the vehicle, the predetermined space may be exactly equal to or slightly smaller than the inside space of the vehicle. In fact, with respect to the inside space of the vehicle as indicted by the solid border, the range of the predetermined space may have a deviation of a certain amount, e.g., ± 10 cm.

The above mentioned two scenarios are applicable for the case of Fig. 2B. That is, with use of the predetermined space of Fig. 2B, the operation needed for getting access to the WIFI router also may be simplified, and meanwhile, the safety for the provider of the WIFI router also may be guaranteed.

As compared with Fig. 2A, the predetermined space of Fig. 2B seems to be preferred in some situations. For example, if the mobile phone is placed on the shelving table, which is at the most front end of the inside space of the vehicle, with use of the predetermined space of Fig. 2B, the networking capability of the mobile phone still can be guaranteed.

Note that, the placing position of the WIFI router is not limited to the positions as illustrated in Figs. 2A and 2B. The WIFI router may be placed at an arbitrary position within the vehicle, e.g., a position at the top left corner or the top right corner or the like of the rectangle border 210. As the position of the WIFI router changes, the predetermined space may be changed or not changed. For example, in the case of Fig. 2A, the predetermined space may change when the position of the WIFI router changes. Still for example, in the case of Fig. 2B, the predetermined space may not be changed, and the polar coordinate representation for the predetermined space may be changed accordingly.

Note that, the examples of the predetermined space as shown in Fig. 2A and 2B are merely exemplary. The present disclosure is not limited to these examples. For example, the predetermined space may be a spheroidicity space, a cube space, or even an irregular stereoscopic space.

The predetermined space may be altered when necessary. Such alternation may be achieved by modifying the stored data for defining the predetermined space, such as the sphere radius R, the group of polar coordinates, or the like. Alternatively, the predetermined space may be disabled. For example, when the vehicle is driven to the suburb and a party will be held near the vehicle, the predetermined space may be disabled and then the cover range of the WIFI router may be as large as possible.

The method performed by the on-vehicle WIFI router 100 will be described in detail below. Fig. 3 illustrates a flow chart showing a method 300 used in the WIFI router in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

The steps of the method presented below are intended to be illustrative. In some embodiments, method may be accomplished with one or more additional steps not described, and/or without one or more of the steps discussed. Additionally, the order in which the steps of method are illustrated in Fig. 3 and described as below is not intended to be limiting. In some embodiments, method may be implemented in one or more processing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analog processor, a digital circuit designed to process information, an analog circuit designed to process information, a state machine, and/or other mechanisms for electronically processing information) . The one or more processing devices may include one or more modules executing some or all of the steps of method in response to instructions stored electronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or more processing modules may include one or more devices configured through hardware, firmware, and/or software to be specifically designed for execution of one or more of the steps of method.

The method 300 starts from step 302, at which the identification module 110 identifies a mobile phone. In one embodiment, one passenger gets on the vehicle, and then the WIFI router mounted in the vehicle will discover the mobile phone carried by the passenger.

At the step 304, the detection module 120 determines the pair of physical quantities (D, θ) . The pair of physical quantities (D, θ) represents the spatial position of the mobile phone with respect to the WIFI router. The methods for determining such physical quantities have been described in detail previously.

At the step 306, the connection determination module 130 determines whether the position decided by (D, θ) is within a predetermined space. If yes, the connection determination module 130, at the step 308, permits the connection with the mobile phone. Or otherwise, the connection determination module 130 denies the connection and then the connection establishing module 140 terminates the connection at the step 312.

In the case as shown in Fig. 2A, at the step 306, the connection determination module 130 determines whether the position decided by (D, θ) is within the sphere space 220. If yes, the connection is permitted. Or otherwise, the connection is terminated. In the case as shown in Fig. 2B, at the step 306, the connection determination module 130 determines whether the position decided by (D, θ) is within the cuboid space 230. If yes, the connection is permitted. Or otherwise, the connection is terminated. Thus, the passenger within the vehicle may enjoy the networking services provided by the WIFI router without needing typing any password to his/her mobile phone. Meanwhile any person outside the vehicle could not get access to the WIFI router even if he may see the WIFI router on his mobile phone.

If the connection is permitted at the step 308, then at the step 310, the connection establishing module 140 establishes the connection with the mobile phone. As mentioned previously, the connection establishing module 140 may establish the connection with the mobile phone immediately after the connection being permitted. Alternatively, the connection establishing module 140 may establish the connection with the mobile phone after receiving a confirmation of user of the mobile phone which indicates the user’s desire to connect with the router.

At the step 310, the connection establishing module 140 further holds a unique identifier of the mobile phone into a memory if the connection is established. The unique identifier of the mobile phone may be the MAC address, the unique serial number, or other unique mark of the mobile phone. The memory used for holding the unique identifier may be a local memory at the WIFI router. By holding the unique identifier into the local memory, the user of the mobile phone can automatically get access to the WIFI router without any action when he/she gets on the same vehicle for a second time. The memory used for holding the unique identifier may be a remote memory at a remote server. The remote server may share such identifier information among a plurality of vehicles, such as a fleet. As a result, if the user of mobile phone got access to a WIFI router on one vehicle of the fleet, he/she can automatically get access to a WIFI router without any action when he/she gets on another vehicle of the fleet next time. The memory may hold such identifier information in a long-term or a short-term manner.

Note that, the step 306 may be performed periodically such that the connection may be terminated when the passenger goes out of the predetermined space. For example, when the passenger gets off the vehicle, the connection may be terminated automatically.

In one embodiment, a routing system is provided, which comprises the above-mentioned WIFI router and the above-mentioned mobile phone. The mobile phone may, after a connection being permitted by the WIFI router, transmit an inquiry to its user to confirm whether the user desires to connect with the WIFI router or not. As mentioned previously, for example, the mobile phone may implement such inquiry transmission with an application locally installed. The implementation is not limited to this. The pop-window form of inquiry is exemplary and the present disclosure is not limited to this. The inquiry may be delivered to the user in various manners, such as via image, audio, video, and so on.

In one embodiment, a routing system is provided, which comprises the above-mentioned WIFI router and a remote server. The WIFI router may transmit/receive information to/from a remote sever. And the remote server may receive/transmit the information from/to the routing apparatus. The remote server may share the information among a plurality of vehicles. For example, the previously mentioned fleet information sharing may be achieved in this routing system. Further, the remote server may maintain and perform data analysis on the received information. For example, the received information may be information on the networking behaviors of a plurality of mobile phones, such as one or more of the following: networking times during a predetermined period, an average network usage time, or the like. The remote server may analyze such information so as to adjust the working parameters of the WIFI router.

Fig. 4 illustrates a general hardware environment 400 wherein the present disclosure is applicable in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

With reference to FIG. 4, a computing device 400, which is an example of the hardware device that may be applied to the aspects of the present disclosure, will now be described. The computing device 400 may be any machine configured to perform processing and/or calculations, may be but is not limited to a work station, a server, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a personal data assistant, a smart phone, an on-vehicle computer or any combination thereof. The aforementioned router apparatus 100 may be wholly or at least partially implemented by the computing device 400 or a similar device or system.

The computing device 400 may comprise elements that are connected with or in communication with a bus 402, possibly via one or more interfaces. For example, the computing device 400 may comprise the bus 402, and one or more processors 404, one or more input devices 406 and one or more output devices 408. The one or more processors 404 may be any kinds of processors, and may comprise but are not limited to one or more general-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processors (such as special processing chips) . The input devices 406 may be any kinds of devices that can input information to the computing device, and may comprise but are not limited to a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen, a microphone and/or a remote control. The output devices 408 may be any kinds of devices that can present information, and may comprise but are not limited to display, a speaker, a video/audio output terminal, a vibrator and/or a printer. The computing device 400 may also comprise or be connected with non-transitory storage devices 410 which may be any storage devices that are non-transitory and can implement data stores, and may comprise but are not limited to a disk drive, an optical storage device, a solid-state storage, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, a magnetic tape or any other magnetic medium, a compact disc or any other optical medium, a ROM (Read Only Memory) , a RAM (Random Access Memory) , a cache memory and/or any other memory chip or cartridge, and/or any other medium from which a computer may read data, instructions and/or code. The non-transitory storage devices 410 may be detachable from an interface. The non-transitory storage devices 410 may have data/instructions/code for implementing the methods and steps which are described above. The computing device 400 may also comprise a communication device 412. The communication device 412 may be any kinds of device or system that can enable communication with external apparatuses and/or with a network, and may comprise but are not limited to a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication equipment and/or a chipset such as a BluetoothTM device, 1302.11 device, WiFi device, WiMax device, cellular communication facilities and/or the like.

When the computing device 400 is used as an on-vehicle device, it may also be connected to external device, for example, a GPS receiver, sensors for sensing different environmental data such as an acceleration sensor, a wheel speed sensor, a gyroscope and so on.In this way, the computing device 400 may, for example, receive location data and sensor data indicating the travelling situation of the vehicle. When the computing device 400 is used as an on-vehicle device, it may also be connected to other facilities (such as an engine system, a wiper, an anti-lock Braking System or the like) for controlling the traveling and operation of the vehicle.

In addition, the non-transitory storage device 410 may have map information and software elements so that the processor 404 may perform route guidance processing. In addition, the output device 406 may comprise a display for displaying the map, the location mark of the vehicle and also images indicating the travelling situation of the vehicle. The output device 406 may also comprise a speaker or interface with an ear phone for audio guidance.

The bus 402 may include but is not limited to Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus. Particularly, for an on-vehicle device, the bus 402 may also include a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus or other architectures designed for application on an automobile.

The computing device 400 may also comprise a working memory 414, which may be any kind of working memory that may store instructions and/or data useful for the working of the processor 404, and may comprise but is not limited to a random access memory and/or a read-only memory device.

Software elements may be located in the working memory 414, including but are not limited to an operating system 416, one or more application programs 418, drivers and/or other data and codes. Instructions for performing the methods and steps described in the above may be comprised in the one or more application programs 418, and the units of the aforementioned routing apparatus 100 may be implemented by the processor 404 reading and executing the instructions of the one or more application programs 418. More specifically, the identification module 110 of the aforementioned routing apparatus 100 may, for example, be implemented by the processor 404 when executing an application 418 having instructions to perform the step 301. The detection module 120 of the aforementioned routing apparatus 100 may, for example, be implemented by the processor 404 when executing an application 418 having instructions to perform the step 302. The connection determination module 130 of the aforementioned routing apparatus 100 may, for example, be implemented by the processor 404 when executing an application 418 having instructions to perform the

steps

306 and 308. And, the connection establishing module 140 of the aforementioned routing apparatus 100 may, for example, be implemented by the processor 404 when executing an application 418 having instructions to perform the

step

310 and 312. The executable codes or source codes of the instructions of the software elements may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as the storage device (s) 410 described above, and may be read into the working memory 414 possibly with compilation and/or installation. The executable codes or source codes of the instructions of the software elements may also be downloaded from a remote location.

Those skilled in the art may clearly know from the above embodiments that the present disclosure may be implemented by software with necessary hardware, or by hardware, firmware and the like. Based on such understanding, the embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied in part in a software form. The computer software may be stored in a readable storage medium such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk or a flash memory of the computer. The computer software comprises a series of instructions to make the computer (e.g., a personal computer, a service station or a network terminal) execute the method or a part thereof according to respective embodiment of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and all such modifications as would be obvious to those skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

A method used in a routing apparatus, characterized in comprising:

identifying a wireless communication device near the routing apparatus；

determining a distance between the wireless communication device and the routing apparatus and an angle of arrival of the signal received from the wireless communication device； and

permitting a connection with the wireless communication device, if the position decided by the determined distance and the determined angle of arrival is within a predetermined space.
The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined space is configurable.
The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined space is a sphere space with a predetermined radius.
The method of claim 1, wherein the routing apparatus is an on-vehicle WIFI router, and wherein the predetermined space approximately matches an inside space of vehicle in which the on-vehicle WIFI router is mounted.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing the connection with the wireless communication device if the connection is permitted； and

terminating the connection with the wireless communication device if the position decided by the determined distance and the determined angle of arrival is out of the predetermined space.
The method of claim 5, wherein the connection is established in response to a confirmation of user of the wireless communication device which indicates the user’s desire to connect with the routing apparatus.
The method of claim 1, wherein the distance is determined according to at least one of the RSSI, the phase, and the delay of the signal received from the wireless communication device.
The method of claim 1, wherein the angle of arrival is determined according to the difference of the phases of the signals received by two or more antennas at the routing apparatus.
The method of claim 5, further comprising:

holding a unique identifier of the wireless communication device into a memory if the connection is established.
A routing apparatus, characterized in comprising: modules for performing the steps of the method of any one of claims 1-9.
A routing apparatus, characterized in comprising:

a memory configured to store a series of computer executable instructions； and

a processor configured to execute said series of computer executable instructions,

wherein said series of computer executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of the method of any one of claims 1-9.
A vehicle or robot, characterized in comprising the routing apparatus of any of claims 10-11.
A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of the method of any one of claims 1-9.
A routing system, characterized in comprising:

the routing apparatus of any of claims 10-11； and

the wireless communication device configured to, after the connection being permitted, transmit an inquiry to its user to confirm whether the user desires to connect with the routing apparatus or not.
A routing system, characterized in comprising:

the routing apparatus of any of claims 10-11, the routing apparatus being mounted a vehicle and being configured to transmit/receive information to/from a remote sever； and

the remote sever configured to receive/transmit the information from/to the routing apparatus.
The routing system of claim 15, wherein the information is a unique identifier of the wireless communication device.
The routing system of claim 15, wherein the information is information on the networking behaviors of a plurality of wireless communication devices.