Wireless network environment configuration system and method thereof

A wireless network environment configuration system and method thereof are disclosed. A network device receives the network environment configuration from a master access point (AP) when the network device is in AP mode and the master AP exists; and the network device scans the wireless network to obtain a wireless network report when the master AP does not exist, and the network device calculates channels that are appropriate for all network device according to the wireless network report so as to generate the network environment configuration to transmit to all network devices in AP mode; and the network device connects with other network device in AP mode and having the network environment configuration to receive and store the network environment configuration when the network device in STA mode and the network environment configuration does not exist. Thus, the system and method thereof can improve convenience in setting wireless network.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is based on, and claims priority from, Taiwan Application Serial Number 106105166, filed Feb. 17, 2017, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a network environment configuration system and a method thereof, more particularly to a wireless network environment configuration system which is able to calculate channels appropriate to all access points and provide a network environment configuration, and a method thereof.

2. Description of Related Arts

In recent years, wireless network technology is rapidly developed and popularized, so various wireless network devices are available in markets.

Generally speaking, setup of wired network is simpler than that of wireless network. That is because the setup of wireless network requires sufficient knowledge to set relevant parameters correctly. Furthermore, compared with the wired network, the wireless network may be interfered more easily, for this reason, the user must operate auxiliary equipment to check which channel is clean and available to use before setup of the wireless network. Hence, the setup of wireless network is inconvenient.

In order to solve aforementioned problem, there are manufacturers developing technology to solve the problem, and in that technology, preset parameters are transmitted to other wireless network devices, that is, the user just needs to set the parameters once, and later, the user may presses a physical button to automatically receive the parameters to complete setup. However, that technology still requires the user to set correct parameters in advance, if the user does not have knowledge about the wireless network or auxiliary equipment, it is still difficult for the user to set the initial parameters correctly and adjust the appropriate channels when the wireless network environment is changed. Therefore, the problem of inconvenient setup of the wireless network is not solved effectively.

In conclusion, as can be known, the prior art has the problem of inconvenient setup of the wireless network; therefore, it is necessary to propose an improved technical solution to resolve the problem.

SUMMARY

In order to solve aforementioned problem, the present disclosure is to provide a wireless network environment configuration system and a method thereof.

The wireless network environment configuration system of the present disclosure is applied to a plurality of network devices in wireless network environment, and each network device includes an access point (AP) mode and a station (STA) mode. The wireless network environment configuration system comprises an initialization module, an access point module, a station module and a processing module. When the network device is activated, the initialization module sets the network device to the AP mode or the STA mode and checks whether a network environment configuration exists. When the network device is in the AP mode and the network environment configuration does not exist, the access point module detects whether a master access point having the network environment configuration exists; when the master access point exists, the access point module receives the network environment configuration from the master access point and stores the network environment configuration, and when the master access point does not exist, the access point module scans the wireless network environment to obtain at least one wireless network report, and calculates a plurality of channels appropriate to all network devices by a channel algorithm according to the at least one wireless network report, and generates the network environment configuration according to the plurality of channels, and transmits the network environment configuration to all network devices in the AP mode. When the network device is in the STA mode and the network environment configuration does not exists, the station module detects and interconnects other network device in the AP mode and having the network environment configuration, and receives the network environment configuration from the interconnected network device and stores the network environment configuration. Under a condition that the network environment configuration exists, the processing module permits the network device to interconnect with other network device in the STA mode when the network device is in the AP mode, and permits the network device to interconnect with at least one terminal device to provide wireless network when the network device is in the STA mode.

The present disclosure further provides a wireless network environment configuration method which is applied to a plurality of network devices in wireless network environment. Each network device includes an AP mode and an STA mode. The wireless network environment configuration method includes following steps: setting the network device to the AP mode or the STA mode when the network device is activated, and checking whether a network environment configuration exists; when the network device is in the AP mode and the network environment configuration does not exist, detecting whether a master access point having the network environment configuration exists, and when the master access point exists, receiving the network environment configuration from the master access point and storing the received network environment configuration, and when the master access point does not exist, scanning the wireless network environment to obtain at least one wireless network report, calculating a plurality of channels appropriate to all network device by a channel algorithm according to the at least one wireless network report, generating the network environment configuration according to the plurality of channels, and transmitting the network environment configuration to all network devices in AP mode; when the network device is in the STA mode and the network environment configuration does not exist, detecting and interconnecting other network device in the AP mode and having the network environment configuration, and receiving the network environment configuration from the interconnected network device and storing the received network environment configuration; and under a condition that the network environment configuration exists, when the network device is in the AP mode, permitting the network device to interconnect with other network device in the STA mode to provide the network environment configuration, and when the network device is in the STA mode, permitting the network device to interconnect with at least one terminal device to provide the wireless network.

To summarize, the difference between the conventional technology and the present disclosure is that the wireless network environment configuration system receives the network environment configuration or automatically generates the network environment configuration to set up the wireless network, wherein when the network device is in the AP mode and the master access point exists, the wireless network environment configuration system receives the network environment configuration from the master access point, when the master access point does not exist, the wireless network environment configuration system scans the wireless network environment for obtaining the wireless network reporting, calculates the plurality of channels appropriate to all network devices based on the wireless network report to generate a network environment configuration and transmit the network environment configuration to all network devices in the AP mode. When the network device is in STA mode and the network environment configuration does not exist, the network device is connected to other network device in AP mode and having the network environment configuration to receive and store the network environment configuration.

By aforementioned technology means, the present disclosure may achieve a technical effect of improving convenience in setting wireless network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Application environment of the present disclosure is described prior to the illustration of the wireless network environment configuration system and method thereof of the present disclosure. The technology of the present disclosure is applied to a plurality of network devices of the wireless network environment, and each network device includes an access point (AP) mode and a station (STA) mode, and automatically obtain parameters of the network environment configuration, such as request to send (RTS), clear to send (CTS), Tx power, service set identifier (SSID), network password, channel, bandwidth, data rate, roaming parameter in STA mode, and so on, so that the network device in AP mode and the network device in STA mode can be interconnected with each other with high efficiency and low interference. Generally speaking, the network device in AP mode may be regarded as a wireless network access point which is able to interconnect with wired network and wireless network and has roaming capability. The network device in STA mode may be regarded as a wireless network card and used to provide wireless network to computer equipment, such as personal computer, tablet computer, notebook computer, smartphone, personal digital assistant and so on.

The wireless network environment configuration system and the method thereof of the present disclosure will hereinafter be described in more detail, with reference to the accompanying drawings. Please refer toFIG. 1, which is a system block diagram of the wireless network environment configuration system of the present disclosure. The wireless network environment configuration system is applied to a plurality of network devices100in wireless network environment, and each network device100includes an AP mode and an STA mode. The wireless network environment configuration system includes an initialization module110, an access point module120, a station module130and a processing module140. When the network device100is activated, the initialization module110sets the network device100to AP mode or STA mode, and checks whether the network environment configuration exists. In the actual implementation, the network environment configuration means related settings, channels, and channel allocation of the wireless network used by the network device100in AP mode, and other network device100in STA mode may interconnect the network device100in AP mode to use wireless network. The network device100in AP mode may transmit the network environment configuration to the network device100in STA mode to complete setup of wireless network. It is to be noted that the way of setting AP mode or STA mode includes pressing a physical button of the network device100, clicking a button shown on graphic user interface, and so on.

When the network device100is in AP mode and the network environment configuration does not exist, the access point module120detects whether a master access point having the network environment configuration exists; when the master access point exists, the access point module120receives the network environment configuration from the master access point and stores the network environment configuration; when the master access point does not exist, the access point module120scans the wireless network environment to obtain at least one wireless network report, calculates a plurality of channels, which is appropriate to all network devices100, by a channel algorithm according to the at least one wireless network report, generates the network environment configuration according to the channels, and then transmits the network environment configuration to all network devices100in AP mode. In the actual implementation, the master access point is a network device100having the network environment configuration and in AP mode. If there are a plurality of network devices100satisfying the condition in the wireless network environment, one of such network devices100may be selected as the master access point. In addition, After the access point module120calculates the plurality of channels, the network devices100in AP mode may be assigned different channels averagely, thereby avoiding adjacent network devices100in AP mode from using the same channel. For example, suppose that there are three network devices100and the access point module120calculates three channels, such as channel one through three, and each network device100use different channel.

When the network device100is in STA mode and the network environment configuration does not exist, the station module130detects other network device100having the network environment configuration and in AP mode, and then interconnects with the detected network device100to receive the network environment configuration from the interconnected network device100and stored the received network environment configuration. In other words, the network device100in STA mode and without network environment configuration may detect and interconnect with other network device100in AP mode and having the network environment configuration, thereby obtaining the network environment configuration of the detected network device100and storing the received network environment configuration as its owned network environment configuration.

Suppose that the network device100is in AP mode, when the network environment configuration exists, the processing module140of the network device100permits other network device100in STA mode to interconnect with the network device100, and the network device100may provide network environment configuration to other network device100. Suppose that the network device100is in STA mode, the processing module140of the network device100permits a terminal device150to interconnect with the network device100, and the network device100provides wireless network to the terminal device150for use. As a result, the terminal device150may be interconnected to the wired or wireless network through the network device100in STA mode, the network device100in AP mode, and a switch160in sequential order. Different terminal devices150may be interconnected with each other to transmit network packet via the network device100in the AP mode (i.e., an AP) through the network devices100, which are interconnected to the different terminal devices150separately.

It is to be noted that the initialization module110, the access point module120, the station module130and the processing module140may be implemented by various manners including software, hardware or combination thereof; for example, in an embodiment, these modules may be implemented by integrated circuit (IC) chip, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), system on chip (SoC), and so on; in an embodiment, these modules may be implemented by computer program executed on computer hardware, and the computer program includes computer readable and executable instructions which may be stored in computer readable storage medium, such as flash disk, hard disk, RAM memory, optical disk, floppy disc, hole puncher and so on.

Please refer toFIG. 2, which is a flowchart showing the steps in an operation of wireless network environment configuration method of the present disclosure. The wireless network environment configuration method is applied to a plurality of network devices100in wireless network environment, and each network device100includes an AP mode and an STA mode. The wireless network environment configuration method includes following steps. In a step210, when the network device100is activated, the network device100is set to AP mode or STA mode, and checks whether a network environment configuration exists. In a step220, when the network device100is in AP mode and the network environment configuration does not exist, the network device100detects whether a master access point having the network environment configuration exists; when the master access point exists, the network device100receives the network environment configuration from the master access point and stores the network environment configuration; when there is no the master access point, the network device100scans the wireless network environment to obtain a wireless network report, and calculates channels, which are appropriate to all network devices100, by a channel algorithm according to the wireless network report, generates the network environment configuration according to the channels and then transmits the network environment configuration to all network devices100in AP mode. In a step230, when the network device100is in STA mode and the network environment configuration does not exist, the network device100detects and interconnects with other network device100in AP mode and having the network environment configuration, and then receives the network environment configuration from the interconnected network device100and stores the network environment configuration. In a step240, under a condition that the network environment configuration exists, when the network device100is in AP mode, the network device100permits other network device100in STA mode to interconnect therewith and provides the network environment configuration to the other network device100; when the network device100is in STA mode, the network device100permits a terminal device150to interconnect therewith and provides wireless network to the terminal device150. Through aforementioned steps, the network device100may receive network environment configuration or automatically generate the network environment configuration for setup of the wireless network. When the network device100is in AP mode and the master access point exists, the network device100receives the network environment configuration from the master access point; when the master access point does not exist, the network device100scans the wireless network environment to obtain the wireless network report, calculates channels, which are appropriate to all network devices100, according to the wireless network report, and generates and transmits the network environment configuration to all network devices100in AP mode; when the network device100is in STA mode and the network environment configuration does not exist, the network device100interconnects with other network device100in AP mode and having the network environment configuration, and receives the network environment configuration from the other network device100in AP mode, and stores the received network environment configuration.

The following refer toFIGS. 3-7.FIG. 3is a system block diagram of other embodiment of the wireless network environment configuration system of the present disclosure. In the actual implementation, the wireless network environment configuration system may further include an encryption and decryption module170. For every interconnection, the encryption and decryption module170generates a key pair to encrypt or decrypt content of a packet. The key pair includes a public key and a private key generated by using asymmetric encryption, such as RSA algorithm. Besides, the wireless network environment configuration system may further include an authentication module180. When the network device100transmits the packet, the authentication module180generates ciphertext corresponding to the network device100in AP mode and the network device100in STA mode respectively according to a predetermined encoding rule; and when the network device100receives the packet, the authentication module180decodes the received ciphertext according to a predetermined decoding rule, thereby confirming whether the network device100is manufactured by the same manufacturer or has the same encoding/decoding rule. As a result, even if the private key is leaked, other network device100without the same encoding/decoding rule is unable to obtain the network environment configuration.

FIG. 4is a flowchart showing the steps in an operation of the network device in AP mode, in accordance with the present disclosure. When the user activates the network device100which applies the technology of the present disclosure, and sets the network device100to AP mode, the network device100starts to check whether the network environment configuration exists; when the network environment configuration exists, the network device100is permitted to provide the network environment configuration thereof to other network device100; otherwise, when the network environment configuration does not exist, it indicates that wireless network is not set, the network device100detects whether the master access point exists. When the master access point exists, the network device100receives the network environment configuration from the master access point; when the master access point does not exist, the network device100generates related settings of the wireless network, such as RTS, CTS, Tx power and so on; next, the network device100scans the wireless network environment to collect wireless network reports responded from all network devices100in AP mode, and then finds the best channels by the channel algorithm according to the wireless network reports, and transmits the best channels to all network devices100in AP mode, and permits network device100to provide the network environment configuration to other network device100which sends a request. In the actual implementation, in order to check whether the network devices100are manufactured by the same manufacturer, the network device sending the request for the network environment configuration may be authenticated by, for example, the key pair, encoding/decoding rule, and so on.

FIG. 5is a flowchart showing the steps in an operation of the network device in STA mode, in accordance with the present disclosure. When the user activates the network device100which applies the technology of the present disclosure and sets the network device100to STA mode, the network device100checks whether the network environment configuration exists; if the network environment configuration exists, the network device100directly provides the terminal device150to use wireless network; if the network environment configuration does not exist, the network device100detects and interconnects to other network device100in AP mode and having the network environment configuration, and authenticates the interconnected network device100in AP mode, and receives the network environment configuration from the authenticated network device100and stores the received network environment configuration, thereby completing setup of the wireless network to provide wireless network.

FIG. 6is a schematic view of channels appropriate to all network devices and calculated by the channel algorithm according to the wireless network report. In the actual implementation, each network device100in AP mode scans the wireless network environment to generate the wireless network report300which includes signal statuses of different channels in the wireless network environment. For example, the signal status of the channel may be “good”, “rejected”, or “bad”. Each signal status corresponds to a score, for example, a score of the “good” signal status is 3, a score of the “rejected” signal status is 0, and a score of the “bad” signal status is 1. For example, as shown inFIG. 6, the signal statuses of channels 1-6 detected by the network device A are good, good, bad, rejected, good, and bad, respectively; the signal statuses of channels 1-6 detected by the network device B are good, rejected, bad, good, bad, and bad, respectively; the signal statuses of channels 1-6 detected by the network device C are good, rejected, good, good, bad, and bad, respectively; the signal statuses of channels 1-6 detected by the network device D are good, rejected, bad, good, rejected and bad, respectively. According to the wireless network report300, the channel algorithm may be performed to calculate a total score of each channel (for example, total scores of channels 1-6 are 12, 3, 6, 9, 5 and 4, respectively) and total scores of different channel combinations (for example, as shown in table 301, a total score of combination of channels 1, 3 and 5 is 23; a total score of combination of channels 1, 3 and 6 is 22; a total score of combination of channels 2, 4 and 6 is 16), and then select the best channel combination (that is, the combination of channels 1, 3 and 5 with the highest total score) to generate the network environment configuration. It is to be noted that the signal status of the channel 5 detected by the network device D is “rejected”, but one network device is only operated on one channel, so the channel combination including at least one “bad” or “good” signal status is adoptable for the network device, for this reason, the combination of channels 1, 3 and 5 may be selected.

FIG. 7is a schematic view of pairing between the selected channel combination and the network devices, in accordance with the present disclosure. The example shown inFIG. 6is taken for illustration. When the channel combination with the highest score (that is, the combination of channels 1, 3, and 5) is found, the network devices are paired with the channels of the found channel combination according to degrees of preference of the network devices for these channels, distances between the network devices and average channel distribution. Suppose that the network devices A, B, C and D are disposed in physical positions as shown inFIG. 7, and the combination of channels 1, 3 and 5 is the best channel combination. The network devices A and D may use the channel 1, the network device C may use the channel 3, and the network device B may use the channel 5, that is, each of the network devices may select the preferable channel, adjacent network devices use different channels, and four network devices (the network devices A, B, C and D) are averagely distributed to use the three channels (the channels 1, 3 and 5). As a result, after the network devices complete the setup of wireless network, the network devices establish optimal wireless network architecture.

To summarize, the difference between the present disclosure and the conventional technology is that the wireless network environment configuration system of the present disclosure receives the network environment configuration or automatically generate the network environment configuration to setup wireless network, wherein when the network device100in AP mode and the master access point exist, the network device100receives the network environment configuration; and when the master access point does not exist, the network device100scans the wireless network environment to obtain the wireless network report, and calculates the plurality of channels appropriate to all network devices100according to the wireless network report, and then generates and transmits the network environment configuration to all network devices in AP mode, and when the network device100is in STA mode and the network environment configuration does not exist, the network device100interconnects to other network device100in AP mode and having network environment configuration, thereby receiving and storing the network environment configuration. Therefore, the wireless network environment configuration system and method thereof of the present disclosure may solve conventional technology problem, and achieve technical effect of improving convenience in setting wireless network.

The present disclosure disclosed herein has been described by means of specific embodiments. However, numerous modifications, variations and enhancements can be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention set forth in the claims.