JP7614064B2 - Wireless LAN terminal, control method for wireless LAN terminal, and control program for wireless LAN terminal - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a wireless LAN terminal, etc.

In recent years, many terminals such as smartphones and notebook computers are equipped with wireless LAN (Local Area Network) communication functions such as Wi-Fi (registered trademark). In the following explanation, such terminals will be referred to as wireless LAN terminals. Wireless LAN terminals can connect to a wireless access point (WAP) and connect to the Internet via the WAP.

When there are multiple WAPs, the wireless LAN terminal can monitor the communication quality and select the WAP with the best communication quality. The communication quality can be evaluated, for example, by measuring the RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) or the error rate in communication. Many wireless LAN terminals are equipped with a scanning function to search for connectable WAPs. Such wireless LAN terminals perform scanning when the communication quality falls below a predetermined level. When the wireless LAN terminal finds a WAP with better communication quality, it can perform a roaming process to switch the connection to that WAP. Here, the roaming process refers to the process of switching the connection destination from one WAP to another WAP. The term roaming can also refer to receiving the service of another communication carrier outside the service area of the contracted communication carrier, but here it also includes the process of simply switching WAPs.

In a wireless LAN, the same ESSID (Extended Service Set Identifier) is generally set for multiple WAPs. A wireless LAN terminal may have a roaming function that automatically switches between WAPs that have the same ESSID.

An example of a wireless LAN terminal with a roaming function and a control method as described above is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1. In the technology described in Patent Document 1, the wireless LAN terminal transmits a PING (Packet Internet Groper) to a WAP to detect a WAP that can communicate with a higher-level device, and switches the connection destination to the WAP with the strongest signal from among the detected WAPs.

JP 2007-124113 A

Since wireless LAN communication enables communication with a stable connection in proportion to the strength of the radio wave intensity, as in the method described in Patent Document 1, a wireless LAN terminal can select and connect to a WAP with the strongest radio waves to achieve communication with a more stable connection. However, if there is another WAP near one WAP and the channel used by the two WAPs overlaps, the radio waves of the two WAPs will interfere with each other. When radio wave interference occurs between the two WAPs, the connection between the wireless LAN terminal and the WAP becomes unstable. For this reason, when a wireless LAN terminal selects a WAP with the strongest received radio waves, it does not always result in the selection of a WAP with the most stable connection.

The present invention was made in consideration of the above problems, and aims to provide a wireless LAN terminal etc. that can select a WAP that is less likely to be disconnected from among multiple connectable WAPs.

To solve the above problem, the wireless LAN terminal of the present invention has a connection information receiving means for receiving from another wireless LAN terminal, first connection information regarding a connection between a WAP among a plurality of WAPs to which another wireless LAN terminal existing in the vicinity of the terminal is connected and the other wireless terminal, a communication means for connecting to one of the plurality of WAPs and communicating with the other wireless terminal, and a WAP selection means for selecting a WAP to which the communication means will connect based on the first connection information.

The control method for a wireless LAN terminal of the present invention also receives, from another wireless LAN terminal present in the vicinity of the terminal itself, first connection information regarding a connection between the other wireless LAN terminal and a WAP among a plurality of WAPs to which the other wireless LAN terminal is connected, and selects a WAP to which the communication means of the terminal itself will connect based on the first connection information.

The control program of the wireless LAN terminal of the present invention causes the wireless LAN terminal to execute a process of receiving, from another wireless LAN terminal present in the vicinity of the terminal, first connection information regarding a connection between the other wireless LAN terminal and a WAP among a plurality of WAPs to which the other wireless LAN terminal is connected, and a process of selecting a WAP to which the communication means of the terminal will connect based on the first connection information.

The effect of the present invention is to provide a wireless LAN terminal etc. that can select a WAP that is less likely to be disconnected from among multiple WAPs that can be connected.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a wireless LAN terminal according to a first embodiment; 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a wireless LAN system according to a first embodiment; 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the wireless LAN terminal according to the first embodiment. 11 is a table illustrating an example of first connection information according to the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a wireless LAN terminal according to a second embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of a wireless LAN terminal according to the second embodiment;

Below, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiment described below has limitations that are technically preferable for implementing the present invention, but does not limit the scope of the invention to the following. Note that similar components in each drawing are given the same numbers, and descriptions may be omitted.

(First embodiment)
Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a wireless LAN terminal 100 according to the first embodiment. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a wireless LAN system 1000 according to the first embodiment. Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the wireless LAN terminal 100 according to the first embodiment. Fig. 4 is a table showing an example of first connection information according to the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless LAN terminal 100 has a communication means 110, a communication quality monitoring means 120, a connection information receiving means 130, a connection information transmitting means 140, a WAP scanning means 150, and a WAP selecting means 160. The hardware of the wireless LAN terminal 100 may include, for example, a wireless communication device, a microcomputer having a processor and memory, an input/output interface, and a housing.

The communication means 110 connects to one of the multiple WAPs and communicates. This wireless communication is performed in accordance with the Wi-Fi (registered trademark) standard, for example.

The communication quality monitoring means 120 monitors the communication quality of wireless communication with the WAP. Indicators of communication quality can include, for example, RSSI (received signal strength indicator) and error rate.

The connection information receiving means 130 receives, from another wireless LAN terminal present in the vicinity of the terminal itself, first connection information relating to a connection between a WAP among a plurality of WAPs to which another wireless LAN terminal is connected and the other wireless LAN terminal. The first connection information relates to a connection with a WAP to which another wireless LAN terminal present in the vicinity is connected. The first connection information is received, for example, using short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark).

The connection information transmission means 140 has a beacon transmission function and transmits second connection information regarding communication with the WAP to which the communication means 110 is connected to another wireless LAN terminal present in the vicinity. The second connection information can be transmitted, for example, using short-range wireless such as Bluetooth (registered trademark).

In order to prevent the information of each wireless LAN terminal 100 from being identified, the first connection information and the second connection information may be configured not to include information about the wireless LAN terminal.

The WAP scanning means 150 performs a WAP scan to search for connectable WAPs.

The WAP selection means 160 selects a WAP to which the communication means 110 of the wireless LAN terminal 100 will connect based on the first connection information received by the connection information receiving means 130.

2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a wireless LAN system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 shows a wireless LAN system 1000 including a plurality of wireless LAN terminals 101 and 102, which are examples of wireless LAN terminals 100, and three WAPs, WAP1_201, WAP2_202, and WAP3_203. WAP1_201 and WAP2_202 are, for example, WAPs that are fixed in place, and WAP3_203 is a mobile WAP. Here, it is assumed that wireless LAN terminal 101 is connected to WAP1_201, and wireless LAN terminal 102 is connected to WAP2_202. It is also assumed that WAP3_203 uses the same channel as WAP2_202 and is approaching WAP2_202. In this case, the approach of WAP3_203 causes radio interference in the channel used by WAP2_202, making communication unstable.

Furthermore, the wireless LAN terminals 101 and 102 transmit second connection information regarding the connection between the communication means 110 and the WAP to the nearby wireless LAN terminals 100, for example, using Bluetooth (registered trademark). Furthermore, each wireless LAN terminal 100 receives first connection information regarding the connection between each wireless LAN terminal 100 and the WAP from another wireless LAN terminal 100 present in the vicinity. In other words, the wireless LAN terminals 101 and 102 transmit and receive the first connection information and the second connection information to each other.

In the case of FIG. 2, radio wave interference from WAP3_203 makes communication between wireless LAN terminal 102 and WAP2_202 unstable. This is detected as a decrease in communication quality by the communication quality monitoring means of wireless LAN terminal 102. Then, WAP selection means 160 of wireless LAN terminal 102 determines that communication with WAP1_201 is stable based on the first connection information received from wireless LAN terminal 101. Then, WAP selection means 160 of wireless LAN terminal 102 performs roaming processing to switch the connection destination from WAP2_202, with which communication is unstable, to WAP1_201, with which communication is stable.

Next, the operation shown in the above specific example will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the wireless LAN terminal of the first embodiment. First, the communication quality monitoring means 120 monitors the communication quality in communication with the WAP (S101). Here, if there is no problem with the communication quality (S102_No), the wireless LAN terminal 100 ends this operation without roaming. On the other hand, if there is a problem with the communication quality (S102_Yes), the wireless LAN terminal 100 refers to the first connection information received from the surrounding wireless LAN terminal (S103). Then, the wireless LAN terminal 100 determines whether there is a WAP with stable communication in the first connection information (S104). Here, if a WAP with stable communication is found (S104_Yes), the wireless LAN terminal 100 performs roaming processing to switch the connection destination to the WAP (S105). If there are multiple applicable WAPs, for example, the communication quality can be compared to select the WAP with the higher communication quality. On the other hand, if there is no WAP with stable communication in the first connection information (S104_No), the wireless LAN terminal 100 uses the WAP scanning means 150 to perform a scan to search for a connectable WAP (S106). The WAP selection means 160 then selects, for example, the WAP with the strongest signal (S107). As mentioned above, since a WAP with the strongest signal does not necessarily have stable communication, the process returns to S101 via the route shown in A and monitors the communication quality.

Figure 4 is a table showing an example of the first connection information of the first embodiment. As shown in the table of Figure 4, the first connection information holds WAP_No, BSSID (MAC address) for identifying each WAP, radio wave strength and duration of connection with the source wireless LAN terminal. Here, BSSID stands for Basic Service Set Identifier, and MAC stands for Media Access Control. In addition, the MAC Media Access Control address of the WAP is generally used as is for the BSSID. The WAP selection means 160 selects a WAP with a stable connection in the first connection information. Here, if there are multiple WAPs with stable connections, the WAP selection means 160 can select, for example, a WAP with a large radio wave strength (WAP3 in Figure 4). Alternatively, the WAP selection means 160 can select the one with the longest connection time. Additionally, the WAP selection means 160 may convert these indicators into points and make a judgment based on the total value.

The above describes the wireless LAN terminal etc. of the first embodiment.

The wireless LAN terminal 100 in the first embodiment of the present invention has a communication means 110, a connection information receiving means 130, and a WAP selection means 160. The connection information receiving means 130 receives first connection information from another wireless LAN terminal in the vicinity of the terminal, which indicates that one of the multiple WAPs to which another wireless LAN terminal is connected, and which relates to a connection between the WAP and the other wireless terminal. The communication means 110 connects to one of the multiple WAPs and communicates with it. The WAP selection means 160 selects a WAP to which the communication means 110 will connect from among the multiple WAPs based on the first connection information. In this configuration, the WAP selection means 160 selects a WAP that has a stable connection with another wireless LAN terminal from among the multiple WAPs in the first connection information, so that the wireless LAN terminal 100 can select a WAP with which communication is unlikely to be interrupted.

In one embodiment, the first connection information includes the received radio wave strength of radio waves received from a WAP to which another wireless LAN terminal is connected. The WAP selection means 160 can then select a WAP to which the communication means 110 will connect based on this received radio wave strength. With this configuration, the wireless LAN terminal 100 can select a WAP with high received radio wave strength and stable connection.

In one embodiment, the first connection information includes a connection time with a WAP currently connected to another wireless LAN terminal, and the WAP selection means 160 can select a WAP to which the communication means 110 connects based on the connection time. With this configuration, a WAP with which communication has been stable for a long period of time can be selected.

In one embodiment, the communication means 110 of the wireless LAN terminal 100 has a communication quality monitoring means for monitoring the communication quality with the currently connected WAP. The WAP selection means 160 can be configured to reselect the WAP to which it will connect if the communication quality falls below a predetermined threshold. With this configuration, if communication with the currently connected WAP becomes unstable, a WAP with stable communication can be selected to ensure stable communication.

In one embodiment, the communication means 110 of the wireless LAN terminal 100 has a WAP scanning means 150 that performs a WAP scan to search for connectable WAPs. Then, the WAP selection means 160 selects a WAP to which the communication means 110 will connect based on the results of the WAP scan and the first connection information. With this configuration, it is possible to select a WAP that is less likely to cause communication interruptions from both the WAP indicated in the first connection information and the WAP found by the WAP scan.

In one embodiment, the wireless LAN terminal 100 has a connection information transmission means 140 that transmits second connection information regarding the connection with the WAP to which the communication means 110 is connected, to another wireless LAN terminal present in the vicinity of the terminal. With this configuration, the second connection information regarding the communication with the WAP to which the communication means 110 is connected can be transmitted to the surrounding wireless LAN terminals.

The control method of the wireless LAN terminal 100 in the first embodiment of the present invention receives, from another wireless LAN terminal in the vicinity of the terminal, first connection information relating to a connection between a WAP among a plurality of WAPs to which the other wireless LAN terminal is connected and the other wireless LAN terminal. Then, based on the received first connection information, the communication means 110 of the terminal selects a WAP to which the terminal will connect. In this configuration, the WAP selection means 160 selects, from the plurality of WAPs in the first connection information, a WAP that has a stable connection with the other wireless LAN terminal. Therefore, the control method of the wireless LAN terminal can select a WAP with which communication is unlikely to be interrupted from among the plurality of WAPs that can be connected.

The control program of the wireless LAN terminal 100 in the first embodiment of the present invention causes the wireless LAN terminal 100 to execute a process of receiving first connection information from another wireless LAN terminal existing in the vicinity of the terminal, the first connection information being information on the connection between the other wireless LAN terminal and a WAP. Here, the first connection information is information on the connection between the other wireless LAN terminal and a WAP among the multiple WAPs to which the other wireless LAN terminal is connected. Then, the wireless LAN terminal 100 can execute a process of selecting a WAP to which the communication means 110 of the terminal will connect based on the first connection information. In this configuration, the WAP selection means 160 selects a WAP that has a stable connection with the other wireless LAN terminal from among the multiple WAPs in the first connection information. Therefore, the control program of the wireless LAN terminal can cause the wireless LAN terminal 100 to execute a process of selecting a WAP with which communication is unlikely to be interrupted from among the multiple WAPs that can be connected.

Second Embodiment
The configuration of the wireless LAN terminal 10 of the second embodiment will be described. Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the wireless LAN terminal 10 of the second embodiment. Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the wireless LAN terminal 10 of the second embodiment. The wireless LAN terminal 10 has a connection information receiving means 1, a communication means 2, and a WAP selecting means 3. The wireless LAN terminal 100 of the first embodiment is a specific example of the wireless LAN terminal 10 of this embodiment. Also, the connection information receiving means 130, the communication means 110, and the WAP selecting means 160 of the first embodiment are each a specific example of the connection information receiving means 1, the communication means 2, and the WAP selecting means 3 of this embodiment.

The connection information receiving means 1 receives first connection information regarding a connection between the WAP and another wireless terminal from another wireless LAN terminal present in the vicinity of the terminal itself when another wireless LAN terminal is connected to one of the multiple WAPs.

The communication means 2 connects to one of the multiple WAPs and communicates.

The WAP selection means 3 selects a WAP to which the communication means 2 connects based on the received first connection information. At this time, the WAP selection means 3 selects a WAP in the first connection information that has a stable connection with another wireless LAN terminal that is the sender. In this configuration, the WAP selection means 3 selects a WAP that has a stable connection with another wireless LAN terminal from among the multiple WAPs in the first connection information. Therefore, the wireless LAN terminal 10 can select a WAP that is unlikely to be disconnected from among multiple WAPs to which it can connect.

Next, the operation of the wireless LAN terminal 10 of the second embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the wireless LAN terminal 10. First, the terminal receives first connection information relating to a connection between another wireless LAN terminal and a WAP from another wireless LAN terminal present in the vicinity of the terminal (S201). Next, based on the received first connection information, the terminal selects a WAP to which the communication means 2 will connect from among the multiple WAPs (S202).

As described above, the wireless LAN terminal 10 of this embodiment receives first connection information from another wireless LAN terminal in the vicinity of the terminal, and is therefore able to ascertain the WAP with which the wireless LAN terminal has a stable connection. The WAP selection means 3 then selects a WAP with which communication with another terminal is stable, and the wireless LAN terminal 10 can select a WAP with which communication is unlikely to be interrupted from among multiple WAPs to which it can be connected.

The scope of the present invention also includes a program that causes a computer to execute the processes of the first and second embodiments described above, and a recording medium on which the program is stored. As the recording medium, for example, a magnetic disk, a magnetic tape, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, etc. can be used.

The present invention has been described above using the above-mentioned embodiment as an exemplary example. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment. In other words, the present invention can be applied in various aspects that can be understood by a person skilled in the art within the scope of the present invention.

1, 130 Connection information receiving means 2, 110 Communication means 3, 160 WAP selection means 10, 100 Wireless LAN terminal 120 Communication quality monitoring means 140 Connection information transmitting means 150 WAP scanning means 1000 Wireless LAN system

Claims (7)

a connection information receiving means for receiving first connection information relating to a connection between a WAP to which another wireless LAN terminal existing in the vicinity of the terminal is connected among a plurality of WAPs and the other wireless LAN terminal from the other wireless LAN terminal;
A communication means for connecting to and communicating with one of the plurality of WAPs ;
a WAP scanning means for performing a WAP scan to search for a WAP to which the communication means can connect when the first connection information does not include first connection information regarding a WAP with stable communication;
a WAP selection means for selecting a WAP to which the communication means is to connect based on a result of the WAP scan and the first connection information ,
The WAP selection means:
selecting a WAP having stable communication as a WAP to be connected to by the communication means when the first connection information includes first connection information regarding a WAP having stable communication;
the first connection information includes at least one of a received radio wave intensity of a radio wave received from a WAP to which the other wireless LAN terminal is connected and a connection time between the other wireless LAN terminal and the WAP to which the other wireless LAN terminal is connected;
determining whether the first connection information includes first connection information about a WAP with stable communication, based on at least one of the received radio wave intensity and the connection time included in the first connection information;
A wireless LAN terminal comprising: the first connection information includes the received radio wave intensity,
the WAP selection means selects a WAP to which the communication means is to connect based on the received radio wave intensity;
2. The wireless LAN terminal according to claim 1. The first connection information includes the connection time,
the WAP selection means selects a WAP to which the communication means is to connect based on the connection time;
3. The wireless LAN terminal according to claim 1 or 2. the communication means has a communication quality monitoring means for monitoring the quality of communication with the WAP currently being connected;
The WAP selection means includes:
4. The wireless LAN terminal according to claim 1, wherein, when the communication quality falls below a predetermined threshold, the WAP selection means reselects a WAP to connect to. The wireless LAN terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a connection information transmitting means for transmitting second connection information regarding a connection with a WAP to which the communication means is connected to the other wireless LAN terminal in the vicinity of the terminal. receiving, from another wireless LAN terminal existing in the vicinity of the terminal itself, first connection information regarding a connection between the other wireless LAN terminal and a WAP to which the other wireless LAN terminal is connected among a plurality of WAPs;
When the first connection information includes first connection information about a WAP with stable communication, the WAP with stable communication is selected as a WAP to which the communication means of the terminal is to be connected;
When the first connection information does not include first connection information regarding a WAP with stable communication, the communication means performs a WAP scan to search for a connectable WAP ;
selecting a WAP to which the communication means is to connect based on a result of the WAP scan and the first connection information ;
the first connection information includes at least one of a received radio wave intensity of a radio wave received from a WAP to which the other wireless LAN terminal is connected and a connection time between the other wireless LAN terminal and the WAP to which the other wireless LAN terminal is connected;
determining whether the first connection information includes first connection information about a WAP with stable communication, based on at least one of the received radio wave intensity and the connection time included in the first connection information;
A method for controlling a wireless LAN terminal comprising the steps of: A process of receiving, from another wireless LAN terminal existing in the vicinity of the terminal itself, first connection information regarding a connection between the other wireless LAN terminal and a WAP to which the other wireless LAN terminal is connected among a plurality of WAPs;
a process of selecting a WAP with stable communication as a WAP to be connected to by the communication means of the terminal itself when the first connection information includes first connection information regarding a WAP with stable communication;
a process of performing a WAP scan for searching for a WAP that can be connected by the communication means when the first connection information does not include first connection information regarding a WAP with stable communication;
The wireless LAN terminal executes the above .
a WAP to which the communication means is to connect is selected based on the result of the WAP scan and the first connection information;
the first connection information includes at least one of a received radio wave intensity of a radio wave received from a WAP to which the other wireless LAN terminal is connected and a connection time between the other wireless LAN terminal and the WAP to which the other wireless LAN terminal is connected;
determining whether the first connection information includes first connection information about a WAP with stable communication based on at least one of the received radio wave intensity and the connection time included in the first connection information;
A control program for a wireless LAN terminal comprising:

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