Patent ID: 7684376
Filing Date: 2010-03-23
Classification: H04M,H04W

Abstract:
1. A search system for a radio LAN, comprising: a plurality of terminals; and a search computer that searches for connectable terminals of the plurality of terminals that are connectable to the search computer, the search computer including: the plurality of terminals including terminal communication units for performing radio communication with the search computer via the radio LAN, the search computer broadcasting a probe request for searching for the connectable terminals that are connectable by minimizing a set value of the transmission power of the radio communication of the main communication unit, the connectable terminals having received the probe request transmitting response signals, including identification information from the terminal communication units to the search computer, the search computer checking whether received response signals are response signals from new terminals that are not stored in the search list, the search computer adding, when the received response signals are from the new terminals, the identification information included in the response signals to the search list, the search computer performing, when the received response signals are not from the new terminals or the response signals are not received, a series of search operations including the probe request by increasing the set value of the transmission power of the radio communication of the main communication unit, the series of search operations including transmitting the response signals, checking whether the received response signals are from other new terminals not stored in the search list, adding the identification information from the other new terminals when the received response signals are from the other new terminals, and repeating the series of search operations when the received response signals are not from the other new terminals, and the search computer automatically establishing a connection to a single connectable terminal stored in the search list via the radio LAN when (i) the search list has no connectable terminal stored prior to a current search operation, the current search operation results in only a single received response signal from a new terminal which is then added to the search list, and the set value of the transmission power of the radio communication of the main communication unit for the current search operation is set to a maximum value, and (ii) the search list has no connectable terminal stored prior to the current search operation, the current search operation results in only a single received response signal from a new terminal which is then added to the search list, and a next search operation performed after increasing the set value of the transmission power of the radio communication of the main communication unit results in no response signal other than from the single terminal on the search list.