Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7929503?dq=6011510
Timestamp: 2016-07-24 14:44:50
Document Index: 411531472

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 82', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 82', 'application No. 2005']

Patent US7929503 - Wireless terminal, management apparatus and wireless LAN control method - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsThe present invention provides a wireless terminal for constituting a wireless local area network together with a plurality of access points and a management apparatus that manages the access points and carries out a wireless telecommunication with the access points, comprising an access point notification...http://www.google.com/patents/US7929503?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7929503 - Wireless terminal, management apparatus and wireless LAN control methodAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7929503 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 11/289,513Publication dateApr 19, 2011Filing dateNov 30, 2005Priority dateAug 30, 2005Fee statusPaidAlso published asUS20070047480Publication number11289513, 289513, US 7929503 B2, US 7929503B2, US-B2-7929503, US7929503 B2, US7929503B2InventorsJunichi SugaOriginal AssigneeFujitsu LimitedExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (16), Non-Patent Citations (1), Classifications (11), Legal Events (2) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetWireless terminal, management apparatus and wireless LAN control method
US 7929503 B2Abstract
1. A wireless terminal for communicating within a wireless local area network including a plurality of access points and a management apparatus that manages the access points, the wireless terminal comprising:
an access point notification unit to create connection request information, the connection request information including identifier information identifying each of a plurality of the access points recognized as communicable before establishment of a communication and radio wave information detected by the wireless terminal, the radio wave information being information about a radio wave received from each of the access points recognized as communicable before the establishment of a communication; and
a transmitter unit to establish communication with any one of the access points and to transmit the connection request information to the management apparatus by way of the access point with which the communication is established.
said identifier information includes an service set identifier (SSID) or a basic service set identifier (BSSID), and
said radio wave information includes at least one of a channel used for wireless telecommunication with each of the access points or a radio wave intensity of the radio wave received from each of the access points.
a certification request unit to request, from said management apparatus, connecting to said wireless local area network, wherein
said access point notification unit transmits, to the management apparatus, at least a part of a certification protocol message by adding said connection request information.
4. A management apparatus included within a wireless local area network together with a plurality of access points and a plurality of wireless terminals, the management apparatus comprising:
a storage unit to store access point information including identifier information about each of the access points and the number of the wireless terminals connectable to each of access points;
a receiving unit to receive, from a wireless terminal by way of one of the access points, connection request information having access point information which includes identifier information identifying each of a plurality of the access points recognized as communicable before establishment of a communication and radio wave information detected by the wireless terminal, the radio wave information being information about a radio wave received from each of the access points recognized as communicable before the establishment of a communication; and
an access point determination unit to determine the lightest load access point of a plurality of the access points connectable with the wireless terminal based on the connection request information and the access point information stored in the storage unit and to notify the wireless terminal of the determined access point.
5. The management apparatus according to claim 4, wherein
said identifier information includes a service set identifier (SSID) or a basic service set identifier (BSSID), and
6. The management apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:
a certification unit to certify a connection of said wireless terminal to said wireless local area network, wherein
said access point determination unit accepts said connection request information from the wireless terminal and notifies said determined access point that the wireless terminal is to be connected in the process of a certification sequence for the wireless terminal carried out by the certification unit.
7. A method for a wireless terminal communicating within a wireless local area network including a plurality of access points and a management apparatus managing which of the access points the wireless terminal is to be connected, the communication method comprising:
creating connection request information including identifier information identifying each of a plurality of the access points recognized by the wireless terminal as communicable before establishment of a communication and radio wave information detected by the wireless terminal, the radio wave information being information about a radio wave received from each of the access points recognized as communicable before the establishment of a communication;
establishing communication with any one of the access points; and
transmitting the connection request information to the management apparatus, by way of the access point with which the communication is established, in order to establish a connection with an access point specified by the management apparatus based at least on the connection request.
8. The control method for a wireless local area network according to claim 7, wherein
9. The control method for a wireless local area network according to claim 7, wherein
said creating and transmitting are carried out as a part of a certification sequence for said wireless terminal.
12. A control method for a wireless local area network including a plurality of access points performing a wireless telecommunication with one or more wireless terminals and a management apparatus managing which of the access points a wireless terminal is to be connected, the control method comprising:
receiving from a wireless terminal, by way of one of the access points, connection request information having access point information which includes identifier information identifying each of a plurality of the access points recognized as communicable with the wireless terminal before establishment of a communication and radio wave information detected by the wireless terminal, the radio wave information being information about a radio wave received from each of the access points recognized as communicable before the establishment of a communication;
selecting the lightest load access point of a plurality of the access points connectable with the wireless terminal based at least on the connection request information; and
notifying the wireless terminal of the selected access point.
storing access point information including identifier information about each of the access points and the number of the wireless terminals connectable to each of access points; and wherein
the selecting is based on the connection request information and the access point information.
said radio wave information includes at least one of a channel used for wireless telecommunication with each of the access points or a radio wave intensity of the radio wave received from each of the access points. Description
The access point management unit 31 is accomplished by an application program, and includes an access point designation processing unit 31 a and a message processing unit 31 b. The message processing unit 31 b performs a message processing at the application level. That is, the current embodiment is configured to carry out a receiving processing of a later described access point notification message 50 from a wireless terminal 40, and a transmission processing of an access point designation message 60.
The access point designation processing unit 31 a carries out the processing of determining an access point 20 that a wireless terminal is to be connected to based on the information content of the access point notification message 50 obtained from the message processing unit 31 b and information stored by the access point information storage unit 35, notifying the message processing unit 31 b of the determination result and transmitting to the wireless terminal 40 as the access point designation message 60.
The access point information 52 is information created by the access point notification processing unit 45. Each piece of the access point information 52 contains information, i.e., a BSSID 52 a, channel 52 b and radio wave intensity 52 c. The BSSID 52 a is identifier information such as a BSSID (basic service set identification) (MAC address) for identifying an access point 20, et cetera.
The channel 52 b is a channel number used by an access point 20 for a wireless telecommunication with a wireless terminal 40.
The radio wave intensity 52 c is the intensity of a radio wave received from each of the access points 20, detected by the wireless terminal 40.
The access point information 62 is information created by the access point designation processing unit 31 a and message processing unit 31 b, while the IP header 61 is information added to the access point information 62 by the data packet processing unit 32.
In the present embodiment, the access point information 62 comprises identifier information such as a BSSID 62 a (i.e., the MAC address of an access point 20) for identifying an access point 20 to be connected to by a wireless terminal 40.
The access point information-storage unit 35 stores an index 35 a, BSSID 35 b, IP address 35 c, channel 35 d, the number of connected terminals 35 e, the number of connectable terminals 35 f with the aforementioned items being correlated for each BSSID 35 b which identifies each of the access points 20.
The index 35 a is an identifier number for identifying each entry corresponding to a BSSID 35 b. The BSSID 35 b is identifier information (i.e., MAC address) for identifying each of a plurality of access points under the management of the management apparatus 30.
The IP address 35 c is an individual access point 20 Internet IP address.
The channel number 35 d is a channel number used by an access point 20 corresponding to the current BSSID 35 b for a wireless telecommunication with a wireless terminal 40.
The number of connected terminals 35 e is the number of wireless terminals 40 currently connected to the current access point 20.
The number of connectable terminals 35 f is the number of wireless terminals 40 remaining to be connected to the current access point 20.
[S1] When using the wireless LAN system 10, the wireless terminal 40 detects access points in the neighboring area by monitoring (i.e., a passive scan), or probe request/response (i.e., an active scan) (N.B.: FIG. 9 exemplifies a passive scan by monitoring beacons) of beacons sent out from access points in the neighboring area (step 102), and extracts an access point suitable for a connection from among the detected access points (step 111). The details of the extraction processing will be described by referring to FIG. 10.
[S2] The wireless terminal 40 connects itself to one of the extracted access point 20 (step 105).
[S3] Then notifies the management apparatus 30 existing within the wireless LAN system 10 of an access point notification message 50 including information relating to the extracted access points 20.
[S4] The management apparatus 30 collates the information in the notification of the access point notification message 50 in the [S3] with the information about the access points 20 stored by the access point information storage unit 35 and selects an access point 20 as the connection destination for the wireless terminal 40. The selection processing will be described later by referring to FIG. 11.
[S5] Then the management apparatus 30 notifies the wireless terminal 40 of the access point designation message 60 containing identifier information of the access point 20 selected in the [S4], thereby designating an access point 20 as the connection destination (step 205).
[S6] The wireless terminal 40 reconnects itself to the designated access point 20 (step 108).
If an access point 20 is detected in the above described step 103, judges whether or not the radio wave intensity of the aforementioned access point 20 is larger than a predetermined suitable value (step 110) and, if it is larger, stores the BSSID, channel and radio wave intensity as the BSSID 52 a, channel 52 b and radio wave intensity 52 c, respectively, which relate to the aforementioned access point 20, in the access point information 52.
Here, if the number of connectable access points 20 selected in the step 203 is zero (“0”) (step 204), the management apparatus 30 instructs the wireless terminal 40 to cut off the wireless LAN system 10 because none of the access points 20 can accommodate the wireless terminal 40 (step 208).
If the step 204 judges that the number of possible connections is larger than zero (“0”), the management apparatus 30 notifies the wireless terminal 40 of an access point designation message 60 containing identifier information about the access point 20 selected in the step 203 and issues instructions for reconnection to the selected current access point 20 (step 205).
FIG. 13 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration example of the management apparatus 30A, which is the same as the configuration of the first embodiment shown by FIG. 2, the only difference being the access point management unit 31 further comprising a certification processing unit 31 c and a connection permission instruction unit 31 d. The certification processing unit 31 c carries out the processes of certifying a wireless terminal 40 as a transmitter based on a later described access point notification message 70 from the wireless terminal 40 and notifying an access point designation processing unit 31 a of the certification result.
The connection permission instruction unit 31 d carries out the processes of creating the later described access point designation message 80 and connection permission instruction message 90.
That is, access point designation processing unit 31 a executes a selection processing of the above described access point 20A only for a wireless terminal 40 successfully certified by the certification processing unit 31 c. The selection result is transmitted to the connection permission instruction unit 31 d in which the selection result information is stored in the respective parts of the access point designation message 80 and connection permission instruction message 90.
The certification protocol message 71, created by the certification processing unit 46 comprised by the wireless terminal 40, contains certification information processed by the certification processing unit 31 c comprised by the management apparatus 30A.
Each piece of access point information 73 contains information such as a BSSID 73 a (i.e., MAC address), channel 73 b and radio wave intensity 73 c, et cetera, which are related to each access point 20A recognized by the wireless terminal 40A.
The wireless terminal information 74 contains the MAC address 74 a of the wireless terminal 40A of the transmitter of the aforementioned access point notification message 70. The MAC address 74 a is a later described connection permission instruction message 90 and is used for the access point 20A identifying a wireless terminal 40A as the object of a connection.
The access point designation information part 82 stores access point designation information 83 for identifying an access point 20A allocated to the wireless terminal 40A. The access point designation information 83 contains a BSSID 83 a (i.e., the MAC address of an access point 20A) for example.
The wireless terminal information 93 contains the MAC address 93 a of a wireless terminal 40A and a telecommunication encryption key for carrying out an enciphered telecommunication between an access point 20A and the current wireless terminal 40A.
Inserting a telecommunication encryption key 93 b corresponding to the telecommunication encryption key provided to the wireless terminal 40A into the connection permission instruction message 90 from the management apparatus 30A to the access point 20A makes it possible to transfer to a telecommunication smoothly after the access point 20A connects the certified wireless terminal 40A.
[S11] A wireless terminal 40A detects the neighboring access points 20A by monitoring beacon or probe request/response sent from the neighboring access points 20A and extracts an access point 20A suitable for connection from among the detected access points 20A when using the wireless LAN system 10.
[S12] The wireless terminal 40A requests the management apparatus 30A for certification by way of one of the extracted access points 20A.
[S13] Having received a certification request, the management apparatus 30A starts a certification of the wireless terminal 40A.
[S14] The wireless terminal 40A sets information relating to the access point 20A as the access point notification information part 72 in the access point notification message 70 containing the certification protocol message 71 and transmits it to the management apparatus 30A, thereby carrying out an access point notification processing in the certification processing with the management apparatus 30A.
[S15] The management apparatus 30A obtains the information of the access point notification information part 72 added to the access point notification message 70 and, if judged as a legitimate wireless terminal 40A, collates the obtained information of the access point notification information part 72 with the information about the access point 20A stored by the access point information storage unit 35, and thereby selects one access point 20A as the connection destination for the wireless terminal 40A.
[S16] Then the management apparatus 30A sets the identifier information about the access point 20A selected in the [S15] in the access point designation information part 82 of the access point designation message 80 and notifies the wireless terminal 40A, thereby designating an access point 20A as the connection destination.
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