JP4468417B2 - Diagnostic method for wireless communication system, wireless device, and computer program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for diagnosing the state of a wireless communication system, and more particularly to a technique for self-diagnosis of the state of a wireless communication system using a practical wireless communication system mounted on a wireless device.

  Wireless data communication systems are installed in many portable information terminal devices such as notebook personal computers (hereinafter referred to as notebook PCs) and PDAs. In addition, wireless LAN, wireless WAN, Bluetooth (registered trademark), One Seg (one segment partial reception service for terrestrial digital TV broadcasting mobile phones and mobile terminals), UWB (Ultra Wide Band), etc. It is already becoming rare that the system is installed in one information terminal device. In particular, recently, a system in which a wireless LAN and a wireless WAN are mounted on a single notebook PC, connected to the wireless LAN indoors, and connected to the wireless WAN outdoors is becoming widespread.

  Wireless LAN is wireless data communication that assumes use in a communication distance as short as about 100 m, such as in a house or office. On the other hand, the wireless WAN enables wireless data communication over a longer communication distance than the wireless LAN. Second-generation mobile phone GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), PDC (Personal Digital Cellular), and third-generation mobile phone W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), CDMA20001x, etc. are wireless WAN communication modules. Sometimes used. On the other hand, there is a system such as WiMAX (IEEE 802.16-2004) which is expected as a so-called last one mile connection means in an area where it is difficult to install an optical line and a metal line for high-speed communication.

In order to perform these wireless communications, a wireless device may include a pop-up antenna. In a wireless device including a pop-up antenna that can be stored in a housing, the pop-up antenna needs to be pulled out in order for the wireless communication system to exhibit predetermined performance. As a technique for detecting whether or not the pop-up antenna is pulled out, for example, there are the following techniques. Patent Document 1 is a communication device including a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna in the same frequency band, and transmits a self-diagnosis signal from the transmitting antenna and receives and evaluates the signal using the receiving antenna. It is described. Patent Documents 2 and 3 describe methods for detecting a state in which an antenna is housed by means such as an optical switch.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-358862 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-95313 JP 7-162356 A

  An antenna for a wireless LAN is often built in a housing on the display side of a notebook PC so as not to be exposed to the outside. On the other hand, an antenna for a wireless WAN is often attached to a notebook PC casing as a pop-up antenna. This is caused by the fact that the wavelength of the radio wave used for the wireless WAN is longer than that of the wireless LAN and the electric field strength of the radio wave used for the wireless WAN is smaller than that of the wireless LAN.

  A wireless device using a pop-up antenna is designed to obtain a predetermined performance in a state where the antenna is completely pulled out from the housing. When the antenna is housed in the housing, the antenna cannot approach a metal part inside the housing or is not long enough to obtain a predetermined performance. Therefore, the user pulls out the pop-up antenna completely from the housing when using the wireless WAN, and the pop-up antenna is housed in the housing only when carrying the notebook PC or using only the wireless LAN. It is desirable.

  However, if the user forgets to pull out the pop-up antenna when using the wireless WAN, the performance of the pop-up antenna is insufficient and a sufficient antenna gain cannot be obtained. Communication quality deteriorates due to stabilization and a decrease in data transfer speed. Moreover, in such a case, the user often does not notice that the decrease in the data transfer rate is because the pop-up antenna is not pulled out.

  In order to solve this problem, it is conceivable to measure whether or not the pop-up antenna is pulled out from the housing by measuring the signal strength from the wireless WAN base station that the antenna is receiving. However, since the distance to the base station and the radio wave conditions differ depending on the user's usage environment, is it because the pop-up antenna is not pulled out when the signal strength is weak, or is the radio wave from the base station weak? Is difficult to distinguish.

  In addition, if the antenna attached to the notebook PC has a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna in the same frequency band, the method disclosed in Patent Document 1 can be applied. However, the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna are often shared by one antenna, and in this case, the method of Patent Document 1 cannot be applied. Furthermore, it is conceivable to attach a switch as in Patent Documents 2 and 3 to the pop-up antenna to detect a state where the switch is not pulled out from the housing, but this requires the addition of new components and electric circuits. As a result, there is an increase in cost, and the space inside the housing in which parts are already mounted at high density is pressed.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for accurately diagnosing the state of a wireless communication system mounted on a wireless device without preparing a special device. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for accurately diagnosing the state of a wireless communication system including a pop-up antenna without preparing a special device. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a wireless device and a computer program for executing such a method.

  Both the first wireless communication system and the second wireless communication system are capable of wireless communication with the network. Therefore, these do not include a diagnostic wireless communication system, and both are practically used in the wireless device. The first wireless communication system and the second wireless communication system perform wireless communication in different frequency bands. Therefore, wireless communication cannot be performed between them. A reference signal having a first frequency is radiated from the first wireless communication system, and the power of the spurious signal with respect to the reference signal is measured by the second wireless communication system. Then, by evaluating the power value of the measured spurious signal, the emission of radio waves from the first radio communication system and the reception of radio waves by the second radio communication system are performed under the normal operating state of the system. Diagnose whether or not

  The frequency of the spurious signal is radiated as a harmonic of n times or a subharmonic of 1 / n times the frequency of the reference signal, and the transmission power of the spurious signal has a fixed relationship with the transmission power of the reference signal. Radiated. Since the distance between the antennas is constant between two wireless communication systems mounted on the same device, the state of the wireless communication system can be diagnosed by receiving a spurious signal and evaluating the power value. . The evaluation of the power value should be compared with a reference value set based on the power value of the spurious signal when the first wireless communication system and the second wireless communication system are operating normally including the antenna state. But you can.

  It is desirable to use a carrier wave that is not modulated as a reference signal because a signal that becomes noise of a spurious signal is not mixed in the frequency of the received signal. In this diagnosis method, it is desirable to confirm whether or not the power value to be evaluated is the power value of the spurious signal with respect to the reference signal. For this purpose, when evaluating the power value of a signal included in the frequency band of the second wireless communication system and having a frequency different from the frequency of the spurious signal, it is determined whether noise is superimposed on the spurious signal. Good. Furthermore, the reference signal may be radiated with variable length coding, and it may be checked whether the power value of the spurious signal to be evaluated is variable length coded according to the same rule.

  If the spurious signal uses a harmonic of n times the frequency of the reference signal or a subharmonic of 1 / n times, the power of the spurious signal is large, and the frequency of the spurious signal relative to the frequency of the reference signal is predicted. It is desirable because it is easy. In addition, when it is determined that there is an abnormality based on the result of evaluating the measured power value, a message may be output to the user. As a cause of the abnormality, when the antenna is a pop-up antenna, it is considered that the antenna is not pulled out, and that there is an abnormality in the first wireless communication system and / or the second wireless communication system. Accordingly, the message may include a message prompting the user to adjust the antenna of the first or second wireless communication system, or a message indicating that the wireless communication system is abnormal.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a method for accurately diagnosing the state of a wireless communication system mounted on a wireless device without preparing a special device. Furthermore, the present invention can provide a method for accurately diagnosing the state of a wireless communication system including a pop-up antenna without preparing a special device. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a wireless device and a computer program for executing such a method.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a notebook PC 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a state in which the notebook PC 10 is opened and used by the user. FIG. 1 also simplifies the description of portions (for example, a keyboard) that are not directly related to the description of the present invention. The notebook PC 10 includes a main casing 11 having a keyboard and a pointing device mounted on the surface thereof and housing many electronic devices therein, and a display-side casing 13 having a liquid crystal display (LCD) 15 mounted thereon. The display-side casing 13 is attached to the main casing 11 so as to be openable and closable. A wireless LAN antenna 17 used for a wireless LAN is built in the vicinity of the upper surface of the display-side casing 13 when the notebook PC 10 is opened and used by a user. In the wireless LAN antenna 17, one element is used for both transmission and reception.

  Further, a wireless WAN antenna 19 used for the wireless WAN is attached to the upper surface of the display side housing 13. The wireless WAN antenna 19 is a pop-up antenna that allows the rod-shaped rod 18 to be pulled out and stored. The wireless WAN antenna 19 is designed so as to obtain a predetermined performance in a state where the rod 18 is pulled out from the housing. In FIG. 1, the state in which the rod 18 is pulled out from the housing is indicated by a broken line. The wireless WAN antenna 19 also has a single element for transmission and reception. The wireless WAN antenna 19 has a structure that can be fixed with the rod 18 fully pulled out. Therefore, the wireless WAN antenna 19 will be described below on the assumption that there are only two states in which the rods 18 are all pulled out from the housing and the rods 18 are all housed in the housing. However, the present invention can also be applied to a pop-up antenna in which the rod 18 can be fixed midway.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of hardware of the notebook PC 10. The CPU 21 is an arithmetic processing unit having a central function of the notebook PC, and executes an OS, a BIOS, a device driver, an application program, or the like. The CPU 21 controls each device connected to a chip set mainly composed of the CPU bridge 23 and the I / O bridge 25 via various buses.

  The CPU bridge 23 includes a memory controller function for controlling an access operation to the main memory 27, a data buffer function for absorbing a difference in data transfer speed between the CPU 21 and another device, and the like. . The main memory 27 is a writable memory connected to the CPU 21 and used as a reading area for programs executed by the CPU 21 and a work area for writing processing data. The video controller 29 is connected to the CPU 21 and is mounted with a video chip (not shown) and a VRAM (not shown). In response to a drawing command from the CPU 21, an image to be drawn is generated and written into the VRAM. The image read from the VRAM is sent to the LCD 15 as drawing data.

  The wireless LAN module 31 and the wireless WAN module 33 are each connected to the I / O bridge 25. The wireless LAN module 31 is connected to the wireless LAN antenna 17 mounted on the display side housing 13, and the wireless WAN module 33 is connected to the wireless WAN antenna 19 mounted on the display side housing 13. Thereby, the wireless LAN module 31 and the wireless WAN module 33 can perform wireless data communication in the respective frequency bands.

  The I / O bridge 25 includes functions as a serial ATA interface and a USB interface (not shown), and is connected to a hard disk drive (HDD) 35, an optical drive (not shown), and the like via the serial ATA. The The HDD 35 stores an OS, a device driver, an application program, or the like. Further, an embedded controller 39, an I / O controller 41, and the like are connected to the I / O bridge 25 via an LPC bus 37. The embedded controller 39 controls the power supply device 43 and the like, and the I / O controller 41 is connected to an input unit (not shown) such as a keyboard and a mouse.

  Note that FIGS. 1 and 2 merely describe the main hardware configuration and connection relations related to the present embodiment in a simplified manner in order to describe the present embodiment. In addition to those mentioned in the description so far, many devices are used to configure the notebook PC 10, but these are well known to those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail here. A person skilled in the art also arbitrarily selects a plurality of blocks described in the figure as one integrated circuit or device, or conversely, a block is divided into a plurality of integrated circuits or devices. Is included in the scope of the present invention.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing software and hardware configurations related to the present embodiment. The OS 103, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101, the wireless LAN driver 105, and the wireless WAN driver 107 installed in the HDD 35 are read into the main memory 27 and executed by the CPU 21 when the notebook PC 10 is activated. The wireless LAN / WAN management application 101 is an application program executed on the OS 103 and resides in the main memory 27 and executes a diagnostic function of the wireless communication system to be described below. Note that the OS 103 intervenes in all exchanges of data or commands between the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 and each device driver.

  The wireless LAN driver 105 is a device driver corresponding to the wireless LAN module 31. The wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 can connect to, disconnect from, and reconnect to the wireless LAN by controlling the wireless LAN module 31 via the wireless LAN driver 105. Further, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 can inquire through the wireless LAN driver 105 and acquire the frequency and power intensity of the signal currently transmitted to the wireless LAN module 31 and the received signal. The wireless LAN module 31 and the wireless LAN antenna 17 are collectively referred to as a wireless LAN system 30.

  The wireless WAN driver 107 is a device driver corresponding to the wireless WAN module 33. The wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 can connect to, disconnect from, and reconnect to the wireless LAN by controlling the wireless WAN module 33 through the wireless WAN driver 107. The wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 can also inquire and acquire the frequency and power intensity of a signal currently transmitted to the wireless WAN module 33 and a received signal through the wireless WAN driver 107. The wireless WAN module 33 and the wireless WAN antenna 19 are collectively referred to as a wireless WAN system 32.

  In this embodiment, the wireless LAN uses the 2.4 GHz band (2400 to 2500 MHz), and the wireless WAN uses the GSM850 (upstream 824 to 849 MHz) frequency band. However, these frequency bands are examples for carrying out the present invention. In the wireless LAN and the wireless WAN, a plurality of channels are set in an assigned frequency band, and a center frequency and a bandwidth are defined for each channel. In principle, the frequency of the signal radiated by the wireless LAN system 30 and the wireless WAN system 32 corresponds to the frequency of each channel set in each frequency band. However, the signal frequency received by the wireless LAN system 30 and the wireless WAN system 32 is not limited to the center frequency set for the channel, and the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 can receive a radio signal having an arbitrary frequency included in the frequency band. And the power intensity at that frequency can be obtained. Also, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 designates the frequency of the start position and the end position, scans the signal power at the frequency between them at a predetermined frequency interval, acquires the received power value for each frequency, and Characteristics can be obtained.

  Now, it is assumed that the wireless WAN system 32 emits a signal having a center frequency of 824.2 MHz corresponding to the channel 128 in the vicinity of the lower limit of the frequency band of the GSM850 with a predetermined output. This signal is only a carrier wave and does not include a frequency component due to modulation. Since the wireless LAN system 30 has a different frequency band, it does not directly receive this 824.2 MHz signal. However, as the 824.2 MHz signal is radiated from the wireless WAN antenna 19, a spurious signal is also radiated simultaneously from a frequency band outside the necessary frequency band. Since the 824.2 MHz signal does not include a frequency component due to modulation, the nth harmonic or the 1 / n subharmonic is generated so as to be distinguishable from other frequency components. Since the signal of 2472.6 MHz, which is the third harmonic of 824.2 MHz, is included in the frequency band used in the wireless LAN of the present embodiment, it can be received by the wireless LAN system 30.

  In addition, in response to the revision of the radio communication rules regarding the permissible value of the spurious emission of radio equipment at the WRC (World Radio Communication Conference), the intensity of spurious emission of radio equipment in Japan in December 2005 was revised. Relevant ministerial ordinances and notifications such as technical standards related to tolerances have been revised. Among them, the emission generated outside the necessary frequency band is collectively referred to as unnecessary emission, and out-of-band emission and spurious emission are defined as unnecessary emission. However, in this specification, signals emitted outside the necessary frequency band are collectively referred to as spurious signals. Therefore, the n-order harmonic and the 1 / n-order subharmonic are not limited to the order but are spurious signals.

  The wireless WAN module 33, the wireless WAN antenna 19, the wireless LAN module 31, and the wireless LAN antenna 17 are all mounted as a practical wireless system in the notebook PC 10, and are not mounted for diagnosis of the wireless communication system. . If the transmission power and antenna gain of the wireless WAN antenna 19 are Pt and Gt, the reception power and antenna gain of the wireless LAN antenna 17 are Pr and Gr, and the propagation loss between both antennas is Lp, then Pr = Pt− The relationship is Lp + Gt + Gr.

  When the wireless WAN antenna 19 is pulled out and stored, the antenna gain Gt changes, but other values hardly change. The wireless WAN antenna 19 and the wireless LAN antenna 17 are attached to the same display-side casing 13, and the distance between them and the positional relationship between them are always constant. Therefore, if the wireless WAN system 32 and the wireless LAN system 30 are operating normally and the 824.2 MHz signal radiated from the wireless WAN antenna 19 is stable at a known transmission power Pt, the wireless LAN antenna 17 receives the signal. The received power Pr of the 2472.6 MHz spurious signal should be stable at a constant value.

  Here, the meaning that the wireless WAN system 32 operates normally includes a state in which the rod 18 of the wireless WAN antenna 19 is completely pulled out. In addition, when the wireless WAN system 32 and / or the wireless LAN system 30 are not operating normally, the received power Pr is lower than the received power Pr when operating normally. In the present invention, the magnitude of the received power of the spurious signal is used to diagnose the state of the wireless communication system.

  4 and 5 are diagrams showing the results of measuring the reception power of the spurious signal received by the wireless LAN antenna 17. 4 and 5 each output an 824.2 MHz transmission signal (hereinafter referred to as a reference signal) with the same output from the wireless WAN antenna 19 with a predetermined transmission power, and at the same time, the wireless LAN antenna 17 and the wireless LAN module. This is a reception characteristic obtained by scanning the reception power value of the reception signal received by 31 at a predetermined frequency interval in the range of 2457 ± 20 MHz. FIG. 4 shows the measurement with the rod 18 of the wireless WAN antenna 19 retracted, and FIG. 5 shows the measurement with the rod 18 of the wireless WAN antenna 19 pulled out.

  In both FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, a waveform 201 corresponding to the waveform of the received signal used in the 2.4 GHz band channel 10 (2457 ± 11 MHz) of the wireless LAN is observed, but the channel is near 2472.6 MHz. An isolated peak 203 is observed from the waveform of the signal. This peak 203 is considered to be the received power of the third harmonic of the reference signal radiated from the wireless WAN antenna 19. The waveform 201 is substantially the same between FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, but the received power value of the peak 203 is around −110 dBm in FIG. 4 where the rod 18 is housed, whereas the rod 18 In FIG. 5 in a state in which is pulled out, it is around −100 dBm. At this time, in the above formula, it can be considered that there is no change between the state of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 except for the state of the rod 18. It can be said that there is a difference of about 10 dBm in the received power value at the peak 203.

  Accordingly, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 inquires the wireless LAN module 31 to obtain the received power value around 2472.6 MHz received by the wireless LAN antenna 17 and when it is all operating normally, for example. If the received power value (−100 dBm) of the wireless LAN antenna 17 and the received power value (−110 dBm) of the wireless LAN 17 when the rod 18 is housed are not less than the reference value 207 of −105 dBm, the wireless It can be determined that all the devices related to the WAN system 32 and the wireless LAN system 30 are operating normally and the rod 18 is pulled out. If the received power value obtained through the inquiry is lower than the reference value 207, it is considered that the rod 18 is not pulled out or that the wireless WAN system 32 and / or the wireless LAN system 30 is abnormal. . The reference value 207 can be determined based on the measured value of received power in a plurality of wireless devices equipped with the same type of wireless communication system.

  There are mainly two scenes in which the spurious signal with respect to the reference signal transmitted from the wireless WAN antenna 19 is received by the wireless LAN system 30 and the method of diagnosing the wireless WAN system 32 and the wireless LAN system 30 by the received power is used. The street is considered. One is to inspect assembly of devices related to the wireless WAN system 32 and the wireless LAN system 30 such as the wireless WAN module 33, the wireless WAN antenna 19, the wireless LAN module 31, and the wireless LAN antenna 17 in the manufacturing factory of the notebook PC 10. It is a scene. In this scene, the standard for the inspection process is to perform measurement with the rod 18 of the wireless WAN antenna 19 being pulled out. Therefore, if the received power value of the spurious signal falls below the reference value 207 in this state, it can be determined that there is an abnormality in the wireless WAN system and / or the wireless LAN system.

  The other is a scene in which the user is using the notebook PC 10 shipped after inspection. If neither the wireless LAN system 30 nor the wireless WAN system 32 is communicating with the respective networks, diagnosis can be started at an arbitrary timing. In this state, one of the causes when the received power value of the spurious signal falls below the reference value 207 is that the rod 18 is not pulled out. In that case, a message is sent to the user to confirm whether or not the rod 18 has been pulled out, and if not, the user is prompted to pull it out. When the received power value of the spurious signal is less than the reference value 207 even though the rod 18 is pulled out, any of the devices related to the wireless WAN system 32 and the wireless LAN system 30 is suspected of malfunctioning. By sending a message to the user, the user can take an appropriate action.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed by the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 in this embodiment. This process is performed at a timing when neither the wireless WAN system 32 nor the wireless LAN system 30 is communicating with the network. Here, assuming that the user is using the notebook PC 10, the processing is started at a timing immediately before the wireless WAN system 32 starts communication with the network in a state where the operation of the wireless LAN system 30 is stopped. (Block 501). Alternatively, the processing may be started immediately after the notebook PC 10 is turned on and the OS 103 is activated. It is assumed that the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 has acquired the reference value 207 in advance.

  In step 503, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 causes the wireless WAN system 32 to transmit a reference signal having the same frequency (here, 824.2 MHz) and transmission power as when the reference value 207 was acquired. This reference signal is a carrier wave that is not modulated with a data signal. The wireless WAN system 32 may send the carrier wave after performing variable-length coding such as Morse code. In block 504, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 uses the channel including the frequency of the spurious signal (here, 2472.6 MHz which is the third harmonic frequency of the reference frequency) with respect to the reference signal to the wireless LAN system 30. The frequency band is scanned at a predetermined frequency interval to search for a spurious signal with respect to the reference signal. At this time, if the reference signal is variable-length encoded, it is confirmed whether the searched signal is a variable-length encoded signal with the same pattern, and is confirmed to be a spurious signal with respect to the reference signal. be able to.

  In block 505, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 causes the wireless LAN system 30 to measure the reception power of the spurious signal and acquire the value. The wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 determines whether or not the received power value of the spurious signal acquired in block 507 exceeds the reference value 207, and if so, starts communication by the wireless WAN system 32 in block 509. Then, the process ends (block 521).

  If the received power value of the acquired spurious signal does not exceed the reference value 207 in block 507, the wireless LAN / WAN management application 101 indicates to the user in block 511 that "the wireless WAN pop-up antenna has been extracted. If “NO”, pull out the pop-up antenna ”is displayed on the LCD 15. The user checks the state of the pop-up antenna when the message is displayed, inputs YES or NO to the message, and pulls out the pop-up antenna when inputting NO. If NO is input, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 obtains the received power value of the spurious signal again at block 513. At this time, the spurious signal confirmation procedure described in block 504 may be executed again.

  In block 515, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 determines whether the received power value of the spurious signal exceeds the reference value 207. If the received power value of the spurious signal exceeds the reference value 207 due to the rod 18 being pulled out, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 starts communication by the wireless WAN system 32 in block 509 and performs processing. The process ends (block 521). If the received power value of the spurious signal does not exceed the reference value 207 in block 515, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 considers the time until the user pulls out the pop-up antenna, and blocks 513 to 517 are repeated a certain number of times or It repeats for a fixed time and waits until the received power value of the spurious signal exceeds the reference value 207.

  If the received power of the acquired spurious signal does not exceed the reference value 207 even though YES is input in block 511, an operation to pull out the pop-up antenna to the wireless WAN system 32 and / or the wireless LAN system 30 is performed. In this case, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 displays a message “There is an abnormality in the communication system” on the LCD 15 in block 519, and processing without starting the wireless WAN system 32 communication. Is terminated (block 521). If the received power value of the spurious signal does not exceed the reference value 207 even if the blocks 513 to 517 are repeated a certain number of times or for a certain time in the block 517, the wireless WAN system 32 and / or the wireless LAN system 30 are similarly used. Upon determining that there is an abnormality, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 proceeds to block 519 to display an abnormality message, and ends the processing without starting communication of the wireless WAN system 32 (block 521).

  In the present embodiment, when the wireless WAN system 32 and the wireless LAN system 30 are operating normally and the rod 18 of the wireless WAN antenna 19 is pulled out, the reference signal radiated from the wireless WAN antenna 19 is It is assumed that the spurious signal is received by the wireless LAN system 30 with a constant reception power. However, depending on the usage environment of the notebook PC 10, noise may be mixed from the outside in the same frequency band as the spurious signal that the wireless LAN system 30 is to receive. In the 2.4 GHz band wireless LAN used in this embodiment, for example, a microwave oven, a medical device, or the like can be a source of such noise.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the received power of the spurious signal received by the wireless LAN antenna 17 and the received power of noise. As the received power, the same waveform 201 and peak 203 as in FIGS. 4 and 5 are observed, but noise 205 from the outside is mixed in the frequency range including the frequency f1 of the peak 203. If such noise is mixed, it is not possible to perform the process of diagnosing the state of the wireless WAN system 32 and the wireless LAN system 30 by comparing the received power value of the spurious signal shown in FIG. .

  The frequency range in which the peak 203 due to the spurious signal is observed is a relatively narrow range of 10 MHz or less including the frequency f1. On the other hand, the frequency range of the noise 205 such as a microwave oven is generally a relatively wide range of several tens of MHz or more. Therefore, the reception power value around the frequency f1 and at another frequency f2 not included in the frequency range of the peak 203 is acquired, and this reception power value is compared with the reference value 209. The reference value 209 is a value smaller than the reference value 207 with respect to the peak 203. If the received power value of the signal of the frequency f2 is smaller than the reference value 209, it can be determined that the influence of the noise 205 is not a problem.

  If the received power value of the signal of frequency f2 is smaller than the reference value 209, it is determined that there is no influence of the noise 205, and the received power value of the signal of frequency f1 is compared with the reference value 207 to compare the wireless WAN system 32 and the wireless The state of the LAN system 30 can be diagnosed. However, if the received power value of the signal of frequency f2 is larger than the reference value 209, the state of the wireless WAN system 32 and the wireless LAN system 30 cannot be diagnosed by this method due to the influence of the noise 205, so the determination is suspended. There is a need.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing another example of processing executed by the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 in the present embodiment. Since this flowchart is the same as the flowchart shown in FIG. 6 in many processes, the same processes are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted. In the flowchart of FIG. 8, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 measures the received power of a signal at a frequency f2 that is in the vicinity of the frequency f1 of the spurious signal relative to the reference signal and is slightly outside the frequency band of the spurious signal in block 551. To do. In block 553, the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 compares the measured received power value of the signal of the frequency f2 with the reference value 209.

  If the received power value of the signal of frequency f2 is smaller than the reference value, it is determined that there is no influence of noise, and the process proceeds to block 507. If the received power value of the signal of frequency f2 is larger than the reference value, return to block 551 and repeat block 553 to wait until the noise level is reduced, or if the noise level does not decrease even after a predetermined time has passed, diagnose May be canceled. In this case, since only the diagnosis of the wireless WAN system 32 or the wireless LAN system 30 cannot be performed, the process may move to block 509 and wireless communication by the wireless WAN system 32 may be started. The frequency f2 for determining the presence or absence of noise may be selected not only from a single value but also from a plurality of different values, or by scanning a predetermined range. Further, since the wireless LAN / WAN connection management application 101 can control the wireless WAN system 32 and the wireless LAN system 30, respectively, the transmission power of the wireless WAN system 32 is temporarily stopped, and the signal of the frequency f1 is transmitted by the wireless LAN system 30 during this period. It is also possible to determine the presence or absence of noise by acquiring the received power value and comparing the acquired received power value with the reference value 209.

  The embodiment described above uses a GSM850 wireless WAN and a 2.4 GHz band wireless LAN, emits an 824.2 MHz reference signal on the wireless WAN side, and is the third harmonic on the wireless LAN side. The received power value of the signal of 2472.6 MHz was acquired. However, the implementation of the present invention is not limited to the frequency band of this embodiment. For example, contrary to the embodiment, a reference signal of 2472 MHz corresponding to the center frequency of the 13th channel of the 2.4 GHz band wireless LAN is radiated on the wireless LAN system 30 side, and the wireless WAN system 32 performs the first third low adjustment. It is also possible to obtain the received power value of a 824 MHz signal that is a wave.

  Standards and frequency assignments applied in wireless communication vary depending on the country, region, and carrier. For example, the frequency band of GSM850 is currently allocated in the North American region, but not allocated in other countries. Therefore, when implementing the present invention, it is necessary to determine the frequency of the reference signal and its spurious signal to be used in accordance with the country and region where the notebook PC 10 is used, and the communication carrier. Since the frequency of the reference signal needs to be determined based on the communication standard supported by the wireless module, there are frequencies that are difficult to select as the frequency of the reference signal in the assigned frequency band. However, when the receiving system receives a spurious signal, it can scan the frequency of the frequency band assigned to the receiving system and obtain an arbitrary received power value.

  In Japan, KDDI Corporation is assigned a transmission frequency band of 815 to 830 MHz for the CDMA2000 series. When this transmission frequency band is tripled, it becomes 2445 to 2490 MHz, so that all third harmonics of signals transmitted from this band are included in the 2.4 GHz band (2400 to 2500 MHz). NTT DOCOMO, Inc. is assigned a transmission frequency band of 830 to 845 MHz for W-CDMA. When this transmission frequency band is tripled, the frequency becomes 2490 to 2535 MHz, so that the third harmonic of the signal transmitted from this band partially overlaps the 2.4 GHz band.

  Therefore, even if the GSM850 wireless WAN for North America in the above-described embodiment is replaced with the CDMA2000 series or W-CDMA for Japan, the reference signal transmission frequency is selected so that the third harmonic is included in the 2.4 GHz band. For example, the present invention can be carried out in exactly the same manner as in the previous embodiments. In Japan, 1749.9 to 1784.9 MHz are allocated for W-CDMA, and 1925 to 1980 MHz are allocated for W-CDMA and CDMA2000 series. Third harmonics of these transmission frequency bands are also allocated. Are included in 5150 to 5845 MHz, which is the receivable range of the 5 GHz band wireless LAN module, or partially overlap, so the present invention can be implemented by selecting the reference signal transmission frequency in the same manner.

  Besides the wireless LAN and the wireless WAN, Bluetooth (registered trademark), One Seg, UWB, and the like can be applied to the present invention. In particular, UWB is allowed in the US from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz and in Japan is expected to be allowed from 3.4 to 4.8 GHz and 7.25 to 10.25 GHz, so a wide frequency band can be used, If a spurious signal of a signal transmitted in another band is received using UWB, the present invention can be applied to more types of wireless communication. For example, 2.3 to 2.4 GHz (2.5 GHz band), 2.5 to 2.7 GHz (2.5 GHz band), 3.3 to 3.8 GHz (3.5 GHz band), etc. allocated by WiMAX The present invention can be applied by receiving a spurious signal by UWB even in the frequency band.

  Although the present invention has been described with the specific embodiments shown in the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown in the drawings, and is known so far as long as the effects of the present invention are achieved. It goes without saying that any configuration can be adopted.

  The present invention can be used in a wireless device including a plurality of wireless communication systems having different frequency bands.

It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the notebook PC concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the hardware of the notebook PC concerning this Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the software and hardware relevant to this Embodiment. It is a graph which shows the result of having measured the reception power of the spurious signal received with the wireless LAN antenna in the state where the rod of the wireless WAN antenna was stored. It is a graph which shows the result of having measured the reception power of the spurious signal received with the wireless LAN antenna in the state where the rod of the wireless WAN antenna was pulled out. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing executed by a wireless LAN / WAN management application in the present embodiment. This is a description of received power of a spurious signal received by a wireless LAN antenna when noise is mixed from the outside. It is a flowchart which shows another example of the process which a wireless LAN / WAN management application performs in this Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

10 ... Notebook PC
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Main housing 13 ... Display side housing 17 ... Wireless LAN antenna 18 ... Rod 19 ... Wireless WAN antenna 30 ... Wireless LAN system 31 ... Wireless LAN module 32 ... Wireless WAN system 33 ... Wireless WAN module 101 ... Wireless LAN / WAN Management application 103 ... OS
105 ... Wireless LAN driver 107 ... Wireless WAN driver 201 ... Waveform 203 ... Peak 205 ... Noise

Claims (14)

In a wireless device equipped with a first wireless communication system capable of wireless communication with a network and a second wireless communication system capable of wireless communication with a network in a frequency band different from that of the first wireless communication system, A method for diagnosing whether radiation of radio waves from the first radio communication system and reception of radio waves by the second radio communication system were performed under normal operating conditions of the system ,
Radiating a first frequency reference signal from the first wireless communication system;
Measuring the power of a spurious signal relative to the reference signal by the second wireless communication system;
Evaluating a power value of the measured spurious signal.   The diagnostic method according to claim 1, wherein the reference signal is an unmodulated carrier wave.   The diagnosis method according to claim 1, wherein the evaluating step includes a step of confirming whether a power value of the spurious signal to be evaluated is a power value of a spurious signal with respect to the reference signal.   4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of evaluating includes a step of evaluating a power value of a signal included in a frequency band of the second wireless communication system and having a frequency different from the frequency of the spurious signal. The diagnostic method described.   The step of radiating includes radiating the reference signal with variable length encoding, and the step of evaluating checks whether a power value of the spurious signal to be evaluated is encoded with the variable length. The diagnostic method in any one of Claims 1-4 containing this.   The diagnostic method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the frequency of the spurious signal is n times the frequency of the reference signal or 1 / n times the frequency of the reference signal when n is an integer. 7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: outputting a message prompting a user to adjust a use position of an antenna of the first wireless communication system or the second wireless communication system in response to the evaluating step. The diagnostic method in any one.   The diagnostic method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of outputting a message indicating an abnormality of the wireless communication system in response to the step of evaluating. A first wireless communication system including a first antenna and a first wireless module connected to the first antenna and capable of wireless communication with a network;
A second wireless communication system including a second antenna and a second wireless module connected to the second antenna and capable of wireless communication with a network in a frequency band different from that of the first wireless communication system;
Connected to the first wireless communication system and the second wireless communication system, instructing the first wireless module to radiate a reference signal of a first frequency, and to the second wireless module And a control unit that instructs to measure the power of the spurious signal with respect to the reference signal and compares the power value of the spurious signal with a reference value.   The wireless device according to claim 9, wherein the first wireless module corresponds to a wireless LAN or a wireless WAN, and the second wireless module corresponds to a wireless WAN or a wireless LAN.   The first antenna is a pop-up antenna, and the control unit outputs a message prompting a user to pull out the first antenna when the power value of the spurious signal is lower than the reference value, and the first antenna The wireless device according to claim 9 or 10, wherein when the power value of the spurious signal is lower than the reference value although the antenna is pulled out, a message indicating that the wireless communication system is out of order is output.   The control unit instructs the first wireless module to emit the reference signal while both the first wireless module and the second wireless module stop communication; and The wireless device according to claim 9, wherein the wireless device instructs the second wireless module to measure power of a spurious signal with respect to the reference signal.   The said control part makes the said 2nd radio | wireless module scan the frequency band of a said 2nd radio | wireless communications system in order to measure the electric power of the said spurious signal. Wireless equipment. A computer equipped with a first wireless communication system capable of wireless communication with a network and a second wireless communication system capable of wireless communication with a network in a frequency band different from that of the first wireless communication system,
A function of emitting a reference signal of a first frequency from the first wireless communication system;
A function of causing the second wireless communication system to measure power of a spurious signal with respect to the reference signal;
A computer program for realizing a function of evaluating the power of the measured spurious signal.

Images