JP6235515B2 - Wireless communication device, wireless transmission / reception system, and wireless transmission / reception method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless communication device, a wireless transmission / reception system, and a wireless transmission / reception method that directly communicate with a counterpart wireless communication device, and more particularly to a wireless communication device, a wireless transmission / reception system, and a wireless transmission / reception capable of appropriately setting power consumption during communication Regarding the method.

  Generally, a mobile terminal using a specific low power radio uses a coin battery, and measures for extending the battery life are required. In terms of circuit configuration, most of the power consumption during operation is closed at a high rate of wireless transmission power, and suppressing this power is a shortcut to extending battery life.

  In daily operation, there are cases where communication is performed several times with a fixed positional relationship and distance relationship. For example, there are a case where communication is performed from the inside of a home to a car parked in a home parking lot, a case where communication is performed from a work place to a car parked in a work place parking lot, and the like. In these cases, communication is performed with a substantially fixed positional relationship and distance relationship.

JP-A-10-210572 JP 2008-17302 A International Publication No. 2011/021321

  In general, the transmission output of a mobile terminal using specific low-power radio is transmitted at a fixed power every time, and the transmission output is not made variable depending on the application, and the same power regardless of the communication distance I was sending in. Therefore, when there is a communication partner in the vicinity, power is consumed at a high transmission output every time even though radio waves can reach even at a low transmission output.

  If the communication distance is short, the number of battery operations can be extended if a mechanism capable of transmitting with a reduced transmission output can be incorporated. However, it is not always used in the same distance relationship or positional relationship, and communication may be performed over a long distance. If the use conditions are fixed, for example, communication is always performed with the same distance relationship and position relationship, the transmission output can be easily suppressed, but this makes it impossible to use under other conditions, resulting in lack of convenience.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-210572 (Patent Document 1) describes the following invention. In order to save power, when transmitting an operation command from the remote control transmission means to the instrument body, it is first transmitted at a low output level. If communication is not established, communication is performed at a lower radio wave output by increasing the output level. To do. It also describes that the output level of the transmission radio wave of the remote control transmission means when communication with the instrument body is first established is stored, and that subsequent operation command transmissions use the stored output level as the first output. ing.

  However, in Patent Document 1, when the remote control transmission means cannot communicate with the instrument body due to changes in the communication environment such as the influence of external radio waves, changes in weather conditions, or changes in the installation location of the receiving device, the notification means displays a voice or display. It just informs the user and the contractor of the failure of communication. In that case, the user or the construction contractor needs to instruct the remote controller transmission means to change the setting.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-17302 (Patent Document 2) describes a technique for performing peer-to-peer (P2P) short-range wireless communication between terminal A and terminal B. When P2P communication is performed, a connection request is transmitted from terminal A to terminal B, and distance measurement unit 16 measures the distance between terminals based on a response signal from terminal B. The distance is calculated from the position information included in the response signal or from the transmission time and the reception time. The transmission power control unit 10 performs transmission power control according to the measured distance between terminals, and the channel control unit 20 performs frequency channel control according to the measured distance between terminals.

  In addition, in International Publication No. 2011/021321 (Patent Document 3), before starting communication between two communication devices in a short-range wireless system, the distance between the two communication devices is measured, It describes that the transmission power of the transmission signal is appropriately controlled based on the measured value.

  However, Patent Documents 2 and 3 do not assume the case where communication is performed in the above-described fixed positional relationship and distance relationship, and the transmission power value is calculated every time.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication system capable of learning and setting appropriate transmission power when two wireless communication devices are in a specific positional relationship and distance relationship, and a wireless communication device and a wireless communication method used therefor. It is.

The wireless communication device of the present invention records the communication history including the location information of the transmission side and the reception side, the transmission power value, the information on the reception side strength at the time of reception,
When the combination of the specific transmitting side and receiving side location included in the communication history reaches a predetermined number of times, the communication location registration is performed, and the next transmission power value is calculated and set for each registered communication location,
Check if the communication location is a registered location at the time of transmission. Send
It is characterized by that.

The wireless transmission / reception system of the present invention is a wireless transmission / reception system that performs communication by adjusting power between a transmission-side device and a reception-side device,
Means for transmitting to the receiving side device including the transmission side position information and transmission power value information to the transmission side device, the transmission side and reception side position information, the transmission power value, and the reception side information on receiving strength A communication history storage means for recording a communication history including the specific location on the transmission side and the location on the receiving side included in the communication history and when the number of successful communication reaches a predetermined number of times, Means for calculating and setting the next transmission power value for each registered communication location,
The receiving device includes position information of the receiving device, and means for transmitting information on strength at reception to the transmitting device,
At the time of transmission, the transmitting device checks whether the communication location is a location registered as a communication location. The transmission power value is set for transmission.

Furthermore, the wireless transmission / reception method of the present invention is a wireless transmission / reception method for performing communication by adjusting power between a transmission-side device and a reception-side device,
Transmitting from the transmitting device to the receiving device including the location information on the transmitting side, information on the transmission power value,
Record the communication history including the location information of the receiving device, information on strength at the time of reception,
The communication location registration is performed when the number of times of successful communication in a combination of a specific transmission side and reception side location included in the communication history reaches a predetermined number, and the next transmission power value is set for each registered communication location. Calculate and set
Check if the communication location is a registered location at the time of transmission. Send
It is characterized by that.

According to the present invention, it is possible to learn and set appropriate transmission power when two wireless communication devices are in a specific positional relationship and distance relationship.

1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a wireless communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the internal structure of the transmitter 1 and the receiver 2 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the transmission output setting value at the time of setting the electric power value of 100% of normal and legal standards as a fixed value. It is a figure which shows the transmission output setting value made variable of 1st Embodiment. Communication format additional information, (a) is additional information on the transmitting side, and (b) is additional information on the receiving side. It is a figure which shows the communication log | history and communication location registration which are used in 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart in case the transmitter 1 and the receiver 2 communicate after the setting of a transmission power value is completed.

(Description of configuration)
The present inventor has considered that it is possible to suppress useless power if a mechanism for changing the transmission power according to the environment with the communication partner can be provided. Some of daily operations are used in a fixed manner. If this condition can be narrowed down, transmission power can be reduced.

  In everyday operations, there are often cases of communication in a fixed positional relationship. For example, for warm-up operation, the user starts the engine by communicating with the remote controller from the home to the car parked in the home parking lot, or parks from the workplace to the workplace parking lot. It is a case where it is made to communicate toward the car which is carrying out. In these cases, since communication is performed with a substantially fixed positional relationship or distance relationship, the power required for communication can be reduced.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of a wireless communication system of the present embodiment. Communication is performed with the set of the transmitter 1 and the receiver 2. In the example of the car described above, the transmitter 1 is a remote controller used by the user, and the receiver 2 is a receiving device equipped in the car. Transmission is performed from the transmitter 1 side, and the transmitter 1 waits for reception when transmission is completed. When the receiver 2 receives and receives the data, the reception result is transmitted to the transmitter 1. In the present embodiment, a wireless device that issues a command is referred to as a “transmitter”, and a wireless device that responds in response to the command is referred to as a “receiver”. However, as will be described later, the communication itself is not one-way from the transmitter to the receiver, but two-way with a reply from the receiver to the transmitter. Therefore, the transmitter also has a reception function, and the receiver also has a transmission function.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a detailed internal configuration of the transmitter 1 and the receiver 2 of FIG.

  The transmitter 1 includes a control unit 10, a transmission unit 20, a reception unit 30, a GPS (Global Positioning System) position specifying unit 40, a communication history storage unit 50, and a communication location registration unit 60. The control unit 10 controls the entire transmitter 1. The transmitter 10 transmits the current position information (GPS acquisition data), transmission power, and transmission date and time of the transmitter 1 in addition to a command for causing the receiver 2 to perform some operation.

On the other hand, the receiver 2 includes a control unit 70, a transmission unit 25, a reception unit 35, a GPS position specifying unit 45, and a device control I / F unit 80. The control unit 70 controls the entire receiver 2. In addition to the response signal to the command transmitted from the transmitter 1, the transmission unit 25 also transmits the current position information (GPS acquisition data), the reception intensity RSSI value, and the transmission date and time of the transmitter 1 of the receiver. The receiving unit 35 receives the above-described command transmitted from the transmitter 1 and data such as position information of the transmitter 1. The device control I / F unit 80 is an interface unit for operating a device equipped with the receiver 1 in accordance with a command transmitted from the transmitter 1. For example, in the case of a car remote control engine start, an engine start command is transmitted from the device control I / F unit 80 to an engine starter (not shown).
(Description of operation)
The operation of this embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, communication is performed with a set of a transmitter 1 and a receiver 2.

  First, as a mechanism for grasping the operation status, information on the transmission side or the reception side is added to the communication format. FIG. 5A shows information to be added to the communication format information from the transmission side to the reception side. FIG. 5B shows information to be added to the communication format information from the reception side to the transmission side. The additional information on the transmission side is the transmission date and time of transmission, the position information of the transmitter 1, and the transmission output setting. On the other hand, the additional information of the receiving side information is the communication date and time of the receiving side, the position information of the receiver 2, and the strength at the time of reception (RSSI value: Received Signal Strength Indication). Data acquired from GPS is used as information for specifying the operation position. Since GPS has positioning errors, ± 30m is considered to be used from the same position.

  The communication history shown in FIG. 6A is created by recording such additional information of transmission / reception. In this embodiment, the communication history is stored in the communication history storage unit 50 of the transmitter 1.

  In FIG. 6, “B1 to B5” and “Y1 to Y5” are considered to be used in the same place because the positions of the transmitter and the receiver are the same as each other. If it exists, it is registered in the communication location registration unit 60 shown in FIG. “B1 to B5” are registered as communication locations B. Note that “RSSI value (h)” in FIG. 6 means RSSI value data displayed in hexadecimal (Hexadecimal).

  The control unit 10 of the transmitter 1 calculates the optimum transmission power from the transmission output setting of the data registered for the communication location and the reception strength of the receiver corresponding thereto, and stores it in the communication location registration unit 60 as the next transmission power setting value. To do. In the example of the communication location B in FIG. 6, the control unit 10 determines that communication is sufficiently possible at 5 mW without being required up to 10 mW. Therefore, the next set value is saved as 5 mW.

  When the communication location is registered, it is compared with the transmission position information obtained from GPS before transmission, and if it matches, it is transmitted with the registered transmission output setting value, and the database and registration information are updated. .

  When transmitting from a location not registered in the communication location, the default setting is 10 mW. If communication is not possible, the transmission output is increased to the maximum value (12 mW) and the data is automatically transmitted. The mechanism for automatically transmitting the maximum value when communication fails is the same even in the case registered in the communication location.

  In this way, the setting of the transmission power value is completed. FIG. 3 shows a transmission output setting value when a normal 100% power value of the legal standard is set as a fixed value and transmission is performed with this fixed power every time. On the other hand, FIG. 4 shows the transmission output set value of this embodiment. In this embodiment, the setting can be varied from -50% to + 20% of the legal standard.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart in the case where the transmitter 1 and the receiver 2 communicate after the setting is completed. First, the control unit 10 of the transmitter 1 causes the GPS position specifying unit 40 to measure the position of its own terminal by GPS (S1).

  Next, the control unit 10 accesses the communication location registration unit 50 and determines whether the location is a registered location. If it is a registered location (S2 YES), the next transmission power setting value is read from the communication history storage unit 60 (S3). The control unit 10 instructs the transmission unit 20 to transmit a command for causing the receiver 2 to perform some operation with the next transmission power setting value read (S4). This command is, for example, a command to start the engine with respect to the car starter.

  On the other hand, when the location is not stored in the communication location registration unit 60 (NO in S20), the default transmission power value is transmitted to the receiver 2 (S5).

  The control unit 70 of the receiver 2 instructs the GPS position specifying unit 45 to measure the position of the receiver 2 in advance (S6). When the receiving unit 35 of the receiver 2 detects transmission from the transmitter 1 (YES in S7), the control unit 70 reads the position, reception intensity, and reception date and time of the receiver 2 from the GPS position specifying unit 45, and the transmitter described above. A response to the command from 1 is sent back to the transmitter 1 (S8). When the receiver 2 does not detect transmission from the transmitter 1 (S7 NO), the receiver 2 remains in a standby state and does nothing.

  Note that S9 becomes NO when S7 becomes NO, but in FIG. 7, the arrow comes only from S8YES. Therefore, S7 NO and S9 are supplemented by connecting them with broken arrows.

  When there is a reply from the receiver 2 (S9 YES), the control unit 10 of the transmitter 1 stores the transmission date and time, the transmission power value, the position of the receiver 2, the reception date and time, and the reception strength in the communication history storage unit 60. The communication history is updated (S10). The transmission power when returning from the receiver 2 to the transmitter 1 is also returned with the transmission power value shown in S4.

When there is no reply from the receiver 2 (S9 NO), the control unit 10 of the transmitter 1 instructs the transmission unit 20 to transmit the above command with the maximum transmission power (S11). In this case, the reception date and time (recorded as no received data) and the transmission power value are stored in the communication history storage unit 60, and the communication history is updated (S10). If the history of successful communication at the transmission location reaches a predetermined number of times (here, 5 times) (S12 YES), registration is performed in the communication location registration unit 60. If the predetermined number of times has not been reached (NO in S12), the communication location registration unit 60 is not registered.
(Explanation of effect)
As described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to identify and learn the positions of the transmitter and the receiver, the transmission output setting at the time of communication, and the receiving strength at the receiving side. Therefore, unlike the case of always transmitting with the default value, it is possible to suppress the transmission power, and it is possible to suppress the battery consumption. Further, unlike Patent Documents 2 and 3, there is no need to calculate an optimum transmission power value every time.
(Second Embodiment)
In the first embodiment, a communication history between a transmitter and a receiver having a specific positional relationship and distance relationship is recorded, and if transmission can be performed at a lower output than the default transmission output, communication is performed at the lower output thereafter. I explained that.

However, because the distance between the transmitter and the receiver is far, there is also a positional relationship and a distance relationship that could not be reached due to a shortage of radio field strength at the default transmission output (10mW). In such a case, contrary to the first embodiment, communication may be possible if the transmission power value is set to a maximum value of 12 mW, for example. If the transmission power value is increased and the communication succeeds a predetermined number of times, the maximum value is registered as the next transmission power value in the communication location registration unit 60 as in the first embodiment, and the maximum value is reached after that. Send by value.
(Other embodiments)
In the first embodiment, a communication location is registered when communication at the transmission location succeeds a predetermined number of times. However, the communication location may be registered when a predetermined number of times is reached even if there is a case where communication is not succeeded and communication is failed.

  In the first embodiment, the predetermined number of times is five, but another number such as three or seven may be used. Further, the relationship between the number of times and the probability of success / failure is learned from the data of the communication history storage unit 50. For example, the initial predetermined number of times is set to five times. After that, if it is found that there are few failures, the setting is changed thereafter and the predetermined number of times is set to three. In this way, power consumption can be further reduced.

  Further, in the first embodiment, when there is no reply from the receiver 2 (NO in S9), the control unit 10 of the transmitter 1 instructs the transmission unit 20 to transmit the above command with the maximum transmission power. doing. This is because if the communication fails, the transmitter 1 does not know the necessary transmission power, so if it is transmitted with the maximum transmission power, there is no need to perform a transmission attempt and it is the earliest. However, if the time for performing the transmission attempt is allowed, transmission may be performed again with a value between the maximum transmission power (12 mW) and the set value at which communication failed, for example, the default value (10 mW).

  In the first embodiment, both the transmission side and the reception side measure the position by GPS. This is because, in the case of a car remote control engine start, the transmission side is the user's remote control and the reception side is the car, both of which change position. However, in the case where the position of the meter, that is, the receiver, is fixed, such as a power meter, a gas meter, or a water meter, a GPS position specifying unit is not necessarily required for the receiver. The GPS function of the receiver can be omitted if the position data of the receiver is measured once by GPS when the meter is installed, and is stored in the nonvolatile memory of the receiver and read out as position data.

  In addition to the remote control engine starter described in the embodiment, the present invention includes, for example, a remote control system for in-vehicle devices, an EV (Electric Vehicle), a remote control for charge control of a PHV (Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle) vehicle, a power meter reading system, and the like. Can be used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Transmitter 2 Receiver 10, 70 Control part 20, 25 Transmission part 30, 35 Reception part 40, 45 GPS position specification part 50 Communication location registration part 60 Communication history memory | storage part 80 Equipment control I / F part

Claims (10)

Record the communication history including information on the location of transmission side and reception side, transmission power and reception side strength at reception side,
When the combination of the specific transmitting side and receiving side location included in the communication history reaches a predetermined number of times, the communication location registration is performed, and the next transmission power value is calculated and set for each registered communication location,
Check if the communication location is a registered location at the time of transmission. Send
A wireless communication device characterized by that.   The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the next transmission power value is a minimum transmission power value at which communication is possible based on transmission power value and history data of reception strength.   The wireless communication device sets the transmission power value to a default value when transmitting from a location not registered as a communication location, and transmits the transmission power value to a higher value when communication fails. Item 3. The wireless communication device according to Item 1 or 2.   The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein information on a transmission side, a transmission power value, and a transmission date / time is added as additional information to the transmission format.   The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein information on a receiving side, reception strength, and reception date / time is added as additional information to the reception format.   When communication cannot be performed at a communication location registered as a communication location, the transmission power value is increased to a maximum value or transmitted with a transmission power that is lower than the maximum value but higher than the next transmission power value. Item 6. The wireless communication device according to any one of Items 1 to 5. A wireless transmission / reception system that performs communication by adjusting power between a transmission-side device and a reception-side device,
Means for transmitting to the transmitting side device including the transmitting side position information and transmission power value information to the receiving side device, the transmitting side and receiving side position information, the transmission power value information, and the receiving side reception strength Communication history storage means for recording the communication history including the information of the communication location, and registering the communication location when the number of successful communications reaches a predetermined number of times by the combination of the location of the specific transmission side and reception side included in the communication history And a means for calculating and setting the next transmission power value for each registered communication location,
The receiving device includes position information of the receiving device, and means for transmitting information on strength at reception to the transmitting device,
At the time of transmission, the transmitting device checks whether the communication location is a location registered as a communication location. Set the transmission power value to transmit,
A wireless communication transmission / reception system.   The wireless transmission / reception system according to claim 7, wherein the reception-side device returns a response to the transmission-side device with a next transmission power value set for the corresponding communication location. A wireless transmission / reception method for performing communication by adjusting power between a transmitting device and a receiving device,
Transmitting from the transmitting device to the receiving device including the location information on the transmitting side, information on the transmission power value,
Record the communication history including the location information of the receiving device, information on strength at the time of reception,
The communication location registration is performed when the number of times of successful communication in a combination of a specific transmission side and reception side location included in the communication history reaches a predetermined number, and the next transmission power value is set for each registered communication location. Calculate and set
Check if the communication location is a registered location at the time of transmission. Send
A wireless transmission / reception method.   The wireless transmission / reception method according to claim 9, wherein the reception-side device returns a response to the transmission-side device with a next transmission power value set for the corresponding communication location.

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