JPH09200211A - Wireless LAN slave station device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a wireless LAN slave station device that efficiently transmits and receives a data signal between a wireless LAN master station device and a plurality of terminal devices, and suppresses operating costs. SOLUTION: A wireless device unit 21 for transmitting / receiving a wireless signal and converting a format of a data signal, a concentrator unit 23 having a concentrating function for a plurality of terminal devices 3 connected via a LAN interface board 7, and a wireless device. A wireless LAN slave station device 2 including a communication control unit 22 that adjusts a transfer rate of a data signal between the device unit 21 and the concentrator unit 23, monitors the connection state of each terminal device 3 and stores the address thereof. And

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to a LAN (Local Ar
The present invention relates to a LAN wireless slave station device that connects a plurality of terminal devices with an interface board and connects each terminal device to a LAN wireless master station device by a wireless signal to transmit and receive data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a technique for transmitting and receiving data by connecting a plurality of terminal devices and a LAN master station device by wireless communication means using light or electromagnetic waves, it is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-284160. "Wireless LAN system" is known.

In this wireless LAN system, as shown in FIG. 3, wireless communication is performed between a wireless LAN master station device (hereinafter, master station device) 4 connected to a wired LAN 6 and at least one LAN group 10. Forming a path 5. LA
The N group 10 is composed of a terminal device 30 connected to a wireless LAN slave station device (hereinafter, slave station device) 31.
The master station device 4 has a LAN separation means and, in a normal state, constitutes a large zone wireless LAN system including the wired LAN 6 and the slave station device 31, but when a predetermined separation signal is input, LAN separation means is provided from the master station device 4 to the wired LA
N6 is separated, and a communication network is formed only between the master station device 4 and the slave station device 31. As a result, the master station device 4 for the time being
A small-zone wireless LAN system is configured only between the slave station device 31 and the slave station device 31, and the wired LAN 6 is connected afterwards to change to a large-zone wireless LAN system, or the wired LAN 6 becomes an obstacle. When it occurs, the master station device 4
The wireless LAN system can be easily configured only between the slave station device 31 and the slave station device 31.

[0004]

As represented by the above-mentioned wireless LAN system, conventionally, it has not been done to condense a plurality of terminal devices 30 to the slave station device 31. Therefore, it is necessary to connect one slave station device 31 to each terminal device 30, leaving the following problems. (1) Slave station device 31 as the number of terminal devices 30 increases
And the total size of the wireless LAN system increases. (2) Since all data signals transmitted and received between the terminal devices 30 are all transmitted through the master station device 4, the master station device 4
The burden on (3) When transmitting / receiving a data signal between the terminal device 30 and the slave station device 31, the data transmission / reception speed of the terminal device 30 is generally restricted by the transmission / reception speed of the radio wave of the slave station device 31. Therefore, high-speed data transmission / reception cannot be performed. (4) Since it is necessary to use a dedicated LAN interface board dependent on the slave station device 31 for the terminal device 30, a general-purpose LAN interface board cannot be used.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and efficiently transmit and receive data signals between a wireless LAN master station device and a plurality of terminal devices to reduce the cost of the wireless LAN system. It is to provide a wireless LAN slave station device having a contributory configuration.

[0006]

A wireless L provided by the present invention
The AN slave station device includes a wireless device unit that performs mutual conversion between a wireless signal transmitted to and received from a wireless LAN master station device and a data signal that can be discriminated by the terminal device, and a plurality of wireless device units for connecting the terminal device. A concentrator unit having a connection port, terminal devices connected to the connection port of the concentrator unit interposing between the wireless device and the concentrator unit, or a specific terminal device connected to the connection port and the And a communication control unit that selectively forms a signal transmission path with the wireless device unit and absorbs a difference in signal speed between input and output of the signal transmission line.

In this wireless LAN slave station device, the communication control unit stores, for example, the identification information of the terminal device connected to the connection port of the concentrator unit and deletes the identification information of the disconnected terminal device. Memory means, means for decoding the source information and destination information sent together with the data signal from the terminal device or wireless device part, the decoded source information and destination information and the identification stored in the memory means. Means for determining a transmission path of the data signal based on the information.

The communication control section also stores buffer means for temporarily storing the data signal, the source information and the destination information sent from the terminal device or the wireless device section, and the data signal stored in the buffer means. A signal reading means for reading at a speed according to the processing speed of the transmission destination,
This absorbs the difference in signal speed between the input and output of the signal transmission path.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Wireless LAN slave station device of the present invention (hereinafter, abbreviated as slave station device in this embodiment)
FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a wireless LAN system including a wireless LAN master station device (hereinafter abbreviated as master station device in this embodiment). This wireless LAN system is a wired LAN
6 and a plurality of LAN blocks 1 each having a plurality of terminal devices 3 connected to one slave station device 2, and each LAN block 1 and the master station device 4 are connected. A wireless communication path 5 is formed between the wireless communication path and the wireless communication path.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a concrete configuration example of the slave station device 2. Referring to FIG. 2, the slave station device 2 includes a wireless device unit 21, a communication control unit 22, and a concentrator unit 23 that are cascaded. The wireless device unit 21 includes an antenna unit 211,
Wireless LAN interface section 212 and transmitting section 213
And a receiving unit 214. The wireless LAN interface unit 212 is an interface unit for transmitting and receiving a data signal to and from the master station device 4, and a known unit can be used. The transmitter 213 converts a data signal to be transmitted, for example, a baseband signal into a radio signal, and the receiver 214 converts the received radio signal into a baseband signal.

The line concentrator unit 23 has a line concentrating unit unit 221 which provides connection ports for a plurality of terminal devices 3 on which the general-purpose LAN interface board 7 is mounted. The line concentrating unit unit 221 has a LAN interface board. A data signal can be transmitted and received between the terminal device 3 and the communication control unit 22 connected via the unit 7.

The communication controller 22 includes a transmission / reception controller 215.
And a terminal address memory unit 216 and a data buffer unit 217. The transmission / reception control unit 215 controls the direction and speed of a data signal transmitted / received between the wireless device unit 21 and the concentrator unit 23, and the transmission unit 213.
Alternatively, a transmission / reception switching unit 218 that selectively switches the connection with the reception unit 214, an analysis unit 219 that analyzes a data signal or the like from the reception unit 214 or the concentrator unit 23, and a data signal transfer process based on the analysis result. Transfer processing unit 22
0.

The terminal address memory unit 216 links and stores the source / destination address of the terminal device 3 connected to the connection port 221n of the line concentrator unit 221 and the connection port number. The electric signal input from the terminal device 3 to the connection port 221n is constantly monitored by a monitoring unit (not shown) of the transmission / reception control unit 215, and when the connection of the terminal device 3 from the connection port 221n is cut off, the signal is handled. The address of the terminal device 3 is deleted from the terminal address memory unit 216.
The data buffer unit 217 temporarily stores the data signal sent from the terminal device 3 or the wireless device unit 21 in order to adjust the transfer rate of the data signal.

Next, the operation of the wireless LAN system of this embodiment will be specifically described. First, a case where a data signal is transmitted from a certain terminal device 3 to the master station device 4 or another terminal device will be described. The source / destination address is included in the header portion of the data signal.

The data signal transmitted from the terminal device 3 via the LAN interface board 7 is a concentrator unit 23.
Then, it is sent to the communication control unit 22 together with the connection port number of the line collecting unit unit 221. The communication control unit 22 temporarily stores the data signal and the connection port number in the data buffer unit 217, and causes the analysis unit 219 to analyze the source / destination address included in the data signal. Then, the analyzed source address and connection port number are written in the terminal address memory unit 216. The analysis unit 219
Further, the destination address is compared with the address described in the terminal address memory unit 216, and if there is a corresponding terminal device, the transfer processing unit 220 is notified of that fact.
Upon receiving this notification, the transfer processing unit 220 transfers the data signal accumulated in the data buffer unit 217 to the concentrator unit 2
3 and the LAN interface board 7 to the corresponding terminal device 3.

On the other hand, as a result of the analysis by the analysis unit 219, if the transmission destination address is not described in the terminal address memory unit 216, that is, if the address of the transmission destination terminal device does not exist, the analysis unit 219 notifies that fact. Transfer processing unit 2
Notify 20. The transfer processing unit 220 that has received this notification
Sends the data signal accumulated in the data buffer unit 217 to the wireless device unit 21. At that time, the data signal is read from the data buffer unit 217 in accordance with the data transmission / reception processing speed of the wireless device unit 21. In addition, the transmission / reception switching unit 218
Is switched to the transmission unit 213 of the wireless device unit 21. In the wireless device unit 21, the transmission unit 213 converts the data signal into a wireless signal, and transmits the wireless signal to the master station device 4 via the wireless LAN interface unit 212 and the antenna unit 211.

Next, a case of transmitting a radio signal (data signal) from the master station device 4 to the terminal device 3 will be described.

The radio signal sent from the master station device 4 is transmitted to the radio device unit 21, that is, the antenna unit 211 and the radio LA.
It is input to the reception unit 214 via the N interface unit 212. The reception unit 214 converts this radio signal into a data signal which is a baseband signal and sends it to the communication control unit 22. The communication control unit 22 temporarily stores the data signal received via the transmission / reception switching unit 218 in the data buffer unit 217. Then, the analyzing unit 219 analyzes the data signal, compares the analyzed destination address with the address described in the terminal address memory unit 216, and connects the concentrator unit 23 to which the corresponding terminal device 3 is connected. The transfer processing unit 220 is notified of the port number. Upon receiving the notification, the transfer processing unit 220 sequentially transmits the data signals accumulated in the data buffer unit 217 to the concentrator unit 23 while considering the data processing speed of the terminal device 3. Concentrator unit 2
3 sends this transmitted data signal to the terminal device 3 via the LAN interface board 7.

Thus, in this embodiment, the slave station device 2
Since a plurality of terminal devices 3 can be connected to each other by providing a line concentrating function, the overall size of the wireless LAN system can be reduced as compared with the conventional one. Moreover, since the general-purpose LAN interface board 7 can be used as an interface between each terminal device 3 and the slave station device 2, it is possible to solve the conventional problem that only a dedicated product can be used.

Further, the data signal transmitted / received between the terminal devices 3 connected to the concentrator unit 23 is directly transmitted / received without passing through the master station device 4, so that the conventional wireless L
The load on the master station device 4 is reduced as compared with the AN system.
Further, the data signal transmitted / received is the data buffer unit 2.
Since the data is temporarily stored in 17 and read at a speed according to the processing speed of the transmission destination, the device with a high processing speed is
It becomes possible to transmit the data signal without considering the processing speed of the transmission destination. This enables high-speed data transmission / reception.

[0021]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently transmit and receive data signals between a wireless LAN master station device and a plurality of terminal devices, and to reduce the cost of the wireless LAN system. It is possible to provide a wireless LAN slave station device that contributes to realization.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a connection configuration diagram of a wireless LAN system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed configuration diagram of a wireless LAN slave station device according to this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a connection configuration diagram of a conventional wireless LAN system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 10 LAN group 2, 31 wireless LAN slave station device 3, 30 terminal device connected to wireless LAN slave station device 4 wireless LAN master station device 5 wireless communication path 6 wired LAN 7 LAN interface board 21 wireless device unit 22 communication Control unit 23 Concentrator unit 211 Antenna unit 212 Wireless LAN interface unit 213 Transmitter unit 214 Receiver unit 215 Transmission / reception control unit 216 Terminal address memory unit 217 Data buffer unit 218 Transmission / reception switching unit 219 Analysis unit 220 Transfer processing unit 221 Concentration unit unit 221n connection port

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A wireless device unit that performs mutual conversion between a wireless signal transmitted to and received from a wireless LAN master station device and a data signal that can be discriminated by the terminal device, and a plurality of connections for connecting the terminal device. A concentrator unit having a port, terminal devices connected to the connection port of the concentrator unit interposing between the wireless device and the concentrator unit, or a specific terminal device connected to the connection port and the wireless A wireless LAN slave station device, comprising: a communication control unit that selectively forms a signal transmission path with an apparatus unit and absorbs a signal speed difference between input and output of the signal transmission path. 2. The communication control unit stores the identification information of the terminal device connected to the connection port of the concentrator unit and deletes the identification information of the disconnected terminal device; Means for decoding source information and destination information sent together with the data signal from the device or wireless device section, and the data based on the decoded source information and destination information and the identification information stored in the memory means The wireless LAN slave station device according to claim 1, further comprising: a unit that determines a signal transmission path. 3. The communication control unit includes buffer means for temporarily storing a data signal, source information, and destination information sent from the terminal device or the wireless device unit, and the data signal stored in the buffer means. 3. The wireless LAN slave station device according to claim 1, further comprising a signal reading unit that reads at a speed corresponding to a processing speed of a transmission destination.