Information processing device and system

Abstract

An information processing device according to the present invention comprises: a communication unit that receives, from a wireless base station connected to a plurality of terminals, received-signal strengths measured at the wireless base station; and a determination unit that determines whether the wireless base station is installed at an appropriate location by comparing a reference value, and a statistical value calculated from the received-signal strengths of the plurality of terminals.

Description

Information Processing Apparatus and System

[0001] The present invention relates to a technique for determining whether a wireless LAN access point (AP) is installed at an appropriate location.

[0002] When constructing a wireless LAN in a small office, the number of APs installed is often about one or two. Therefore, rather than relying on a wireless LAN construction company, users often determine the installation location of the AP by themselves and start operating the wireless LAN.

[0003] Therefore, the AP is often not installed at an appropriate location, which may cause events such as inability to connect to the wireless LAN or frequent disconnection of the connection.

[0004] In order to solve the above problems, Non-Patent Document 1 discloses the following method. In this method, a wireless LAN construction company visits the site, measures the received signal strength (RSSI: Received Signal Strength Indicator) at various locations in the room using a dedicated terminal with the AP temporarily installed, and determines whether the location where the AP is temporarily installed is appropriate. If it is determined to be appropriate, the AP is permanently set at that location.

[0005] However, the above method has a problem that the wireless LAN construction company needs to visit the site, which is too costly.

[0006] As a cost reduction method, the following method can be considered. In this method, a user installs an application (for example, an application disclosed in Non-Patent Document 2) that can measure RSSI on his / her smartphone or the like. The user measures the RSSI at various locations in the room using the smartphone with the AP temporarily installed, and sends the measured information to the wireless LAN construction company. The wireless LAN construction company determines whether the location where the AP is temporarily installed is appropriate by checking it.

[0007] In this method, since the wireless LAN construction company does not visit the site, the cost can be reduced compared to the method shown above. However, on the other hand, there is a problem of burdening the user.

[0008] Hyper Wireless LAN Site Survey Co., Ltd. visualizes radio waves https: / / www.hyper-ss.jp / pickup / pickup28.html I-O Data Equipment's "Wi-Fi Mireru" app for measuring Wi-Fi signal strength and speed https: / / www.iodata.jp / ssp / magazine / 68 /

[0009] No technology has been proposed to determine whether access points (APs) are installed in the correct locations without requiring a wireless LAN installation company to visit the site or placing an burden on the user.

[0010] This invention has been made in view of the above points, and aims to provide a technology for determining whether an AP is installed in an appropriate location without requiring a wireless LAN construction company to visit the site or impose any burden on the user.

[0011] According to the disclosed technology, an information processing device is provided which includes a communication unit that receives received signal strength measured at a wireless base station connected to multiple terminals from the wireless base station, and a determination unit that determines whether or not the wireless base station is installed in an appropriate location by comparing a statistical value calculated from the received signal strength of the multiple terminals with a reference value.

[0012] According to the disclosed technology, wireless LAN installers can determine whether access points (APs) are installed in the appropriate locations without having to visit the site or placing an burden on the user.

[0013] This is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the communication system in an embodiment of the present invention. This is a flowchart showing the operation of the percentile determination unit 220. This is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the communication system in an embodiment. This is a diagram showing the input information to the server 200 in an embodiment. This is a diagram showing the input information to the AP 100 in an embodiment. This is a diagram showing the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal in an embodiment. This is a diagram showing an example of screen display in an embodiment. This is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the device.

[0014] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention (this embodiment) will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiments described below are merely examples, and the embodiments to which the present invention is applied are not limited to the embodiments described below.

[0015] The system configuration and operation of this embodiment, which solves the aforementioned problems, will be described in detail below. Note that the wireless base stations targeted for location determination in this embodiment are not limited to wireless LAN access points (APs). For example, the targets for location determination may be LTE, 5G, or 6G wireless base stations.

[0016] (System Configuration Example) Figure 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of the communication system in this embodiment. As shown in Figure 1, this communication system has an AP 100 and a server 200. The AP 100 and the server 200 can communicate with each other via a network. The server may also be called an information processing device.

[0017] As shown in Figure 1, AP100 has an information input unit 110, a control unit 120, a measurement unit 130 for measuring the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal, and a communication unit 140. Server 200 has an information input unit 210, a percentile determination unit 220, a communication unit 230, and an information output unit 240.

[0018] (Operation of the communication system) The information input unit 210 of the server 200 receives information input from an external source and transmits the input information to the percentile determination unit 220. The input information consists of the assumed RSSI value (eRSSI), a value (A) used when calculating percentiles, and a value (N) used in the algorithm for determining whether the AP is set in the appropriate location. The assumed RSSI value is an example of a reference value.

[0019] The information input unit 110 of AP100 receives information input from an external source. The input information is the IP address of the server 200 and the time (T) during which the control unit 120 operates at regular intervals. The IP address is sent to the communication unit 140, and T is sent to the control unit 120.

[0020] When the control unit 120 of AP100 receives T from the information input unit 110, it notifies the measurement unit 130 to measure the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal at regular intervals T.

[0021] When the measurement unit 130 of AP100 receives a notification from the control unit 120, it measures the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal and transmits the combination of the connected terminal's MAC address and RSSI value to the communication unit 140.

[0022] When the communication unit 140 of AP100 receives the MAC address and RSSI combination information of the connected terminal from the measurement unit 130, it sends that information to the server 200, using the IP address notified by the information input unit 110 as the destination.

[0023] When the communication unit 230 of the server 200 receives MAC address and RSSI combination information of the connected terminal from the AP 100, it transmits them to the percentile determination unit 220.

[0024] The operation of the percentile determination unit 220 of the server 200 will be explained by referring to the flowchart in Figure 2. The flowchart in Figure 2 is performed each time uplink RSSI information is acquired, that is, every time T.

[0025] In step S1, the percentile determination unit 220 calculates the A percentile value of RSSI from the uplink RSSI information of the multiple connected terminals that it has received. Here, the A percentile value is the value that is located at A% when counting from the smallest value. Note that the A percentile value is an example of a statistical value. The percentile determination unit may also be called the determination unit.

[0026] In the subsequent processing, the percentile determination unit 220 determines whether AP100 is installed in an appropriate location. Specifically, in S2, the percentile determination unit 220 determines whether the assumed RSSI is equal to or greater than the A percentile value of the RSSI.

[0027] If the assumed RSSI is greater than or equal to the A percentile of the RSSI, proceed to S3 and add 1 to the counter value (cnt). If the assumed RSSI is not greater than or equal to the A percentile of the RSSI, proceed to S6 and update cnt to zero.

[0028] Then, the percentile determination unit 220 determines that AP100 is not installed in an appropriate location if cnt is N or greater (S4, S5).

[0029] The meaning of the flowchart is as follows:

[0030] When the assumed RSSI is greater than or equal to the A percentile of RSSI, it means that A% of the uplink RSSIs of all connected terminals are less than or equal to the assumed RSSI. This is equivalent to A% of connected terminals being connected to AP100 with an RSSI less than or equal to the assumed RSSI, that is, A% of connected terminals being connected to AP100 with undesirable quality. Therefore, if such a condition is counted N times in a row, the percentile determination unit 220 determines that AP100 is not installed in an appropriate location.

[0031] If the percentile determination unit 220 of the server 200 determines that the AP 100 is not installed in an appropriate location, it sends the determination result and the MAC addresses of connected terminals whose uplink RSSI values ​​are less than or equal to the A percentile value to the information output unit 240.

[0032] The information output unit 240 notifies the external party of the determination result and the MAC address of the connected terminal. Means of notifying the external party include displaying the result on the terminal of the user who accessed the server 200 via a browser, or notifying the registered email address.

[0033] Since users know the MAC addresses of the devices they are notified of, they can reduce the number of devices connected to AP100 with undesirable quality by changing the AP100's installation location so that it is closer to those devices.

[0034] The following describes a specific example of the operation of the communication system according to this embodiment.

[0035] (Example) Figure 3 shows an example of the system configuration of this embodiment. As shown in Figure 3, this communication system has one AP100, five terminals connected to AP100, and one server 200.

[0036] Figure 4 shows the input information to server 200, and Figure 5 shows the input information to AP100. Server 200 is input with the assumed RSSI, A, and N as shown in Figure 4. AP100 is input with the IP address and T as shown in Figure 5.

[0037] Since T = 60 minutes, AP100 sends the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal to server 200 at regular intervals of 60 minutes.

[0038] <t=0 min> At t=0 min, the control unit 120 of AP100 notifies the measurement unit 130 to measure the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal.

[0039] When the measurement unit 130 of AP100 receives a notification from the control unit 120, it measures the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal. Here, the value listed in the "t=0 min" column in Figure 6 is measured, and the measurement unit 130 transmits the combination information of the connected terminal's MAC address and RSSI to the communication unit 140.

[0040] When the communication unit 140 of AP100 receives MAC address and RSSI combination information of the connected terminal from the measurement unit 130, it transmits this information to the server 200 with IP address (1.2.3.4).

[0041] When the communication unit 230 of the server 200 receives MAC address and RSSI combination information of the connected terminal from the AP 100, it transmits them to the percentile determination unit 220.

[0042] The percentile determination unit 220 of the server 200 calculates the 90th percentile value of RSSI from the uplink RSSI information of the connected terminal that it has received. In this case, the 90th percentile value is -62.

[0043] Then, according to the flowchart of FIG. 2, the percentile determination unit 220 of the server 200 determines whether the AP 100 is installed at an appropriate location. Now, since the eRSSI is -60 and the 90th percentile value is -62, the counter value (cnt) is incremented by 1 and becomes 1, which is not N (= 3) or more, so the flowchart ends.

[0044] Also, since the percentile determination unit 220 of the server 200 has not determined that the AP 100 is not installed at an appropriate location, it does not send anything to the information output unit 240.

[0045] <t = 60 minutes> At t = 60 minutes, the control unit 120 of the AP notifies the measurement unit 130 to measure the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal.

[0046] When the measurement unit 130 of the AP 100 receives the notification from the control unit 120, it measures the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal. Here, assuming that the values described in the "t = 60 minutes" column of FIG. 6 are measured, it transmits the combined information of the MAC address and RSSI of the connected terminal to the communication unit 140.

[0047] When the communication unit 140 of the AP 100 receives the combined information of the MAC address and RSSI of the connected terminal from the measurement unit 130, it transmits that information to the server 200 with the IP address (1.2.3.4).

[0048] When the communication unit 230 of the server 200 receives the combined information of the MAC address and RSSI of the connected terminal from the AP 100, it transmits them to the percentile determination unit 220.

[0049] The percentile determination unit 220 of the server 200 calculates the 90th percentile value of the RSSI from the received uplink RSSI information of the connected terminal. In this case, the 90th percentile value is -58.8.

[0050] Then, according to the flowchart of FIG. 2, the percentile determination unit 220 determines whether the AP 100 is installed at an appropriate location. Now, since the eRSSI is -60 and the 90th percentile value is -​

[0051] Furthermore, the percentile determination unit 220 of the server 200 does not determine that the AP 100 is not installed in an appropriate location, and therefore does not send anything to the information output unit 240.

[0052] <t=120 minutes> At t=120 minutes, the control unit 120 of AP100 notifies the measurement unit 130 to measure the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal.

[0053] When the measurement unit 130 of AP100 receives a notification from the control unit 120, it measures the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal. Here, it is assumed that the value listed in the "t = 120 minutes" column of Figure 6 was measured, and the combination information of the connected terminal's MAC address and RSSI is transmitted to the communication unit 140.

[0054] When the communication unit 140 of AP100 receives MAC address and RSSI combination information of the connected terminal from the measurement unit 130, it transmits this information to the server 200 with IP address (1.2.3.4).

[0055] When the communication unit 230 of the server 200 receives MAC address and RSSI combination information of the connected terminal from the AP 100, it transmits them to the percentile determination unit 220.

[0056] The percentile determination unit 220 of the server 200 calculates the 90th percentile value of RSSI from the uplink RSSI information of the connected terminal. In this case, the 90th percentile value is -63.2.

[0057] Then, the percentile determination unit 220 determines whether AP100 is installed in the appropriate location according to the flowchart in Figure 2. Since eRSSI is -60 and the 90th percentile value is -63.2, the counter value (cnt) is increased by 1 to 1, which is not greater than or equal to N (=3), so the flowchart ends.

[0058] Furthermore, the percentile determination unit 220 of the server 200 does not determine that the AP 100 is not installed in an appropriate location, and therefore does not send anything to the information output unit 240.

[0059] <t=180 minutes> At t=180 minutes, the control unit 120 of AP100 notifies the measurement unit 130 to measure the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal.

[0060] When the measurement unit 130 of AP100 receives a notification from the control unit 120, it measures the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal. Here, it is assumed that the value listed in the "t = 180 minutes" column of Figure 6 was measured, and the combination information of the connected terminal's MAC address and RSSI is transmitted to the communication unit 140.

[0061] When the communication unit 140 of AP100 receives MAC address and RSSI combination information of the connected terminal from the measurement unit 130, it transmits this information to the server 200 with IP address (1.2.3.4).

[0062] When the communication unit 230 of the server 200 receives MAC address and RSSI combination information of the connected terminal from the AP 100, it transmits them to the percentile determination unit 220.

[0063] The percentile determination unit 220 of the server 200 calculates the 90th percentile value of RSSI from the uplink RSSI information of the connected terminal that it has received. In this case, the 90th percentile value is -62.8.

[0064] Then, the percentile determination unit 220 determines whether AP100 is installed in the appropriate location according to the flowchart in Figure 2. Currently, eRSSI is -60 and the 90th percentile value is -62.8, so the counter value (cnt) is increased by 1 to 2, which is not greater than or equal to N (=3), and the flowchart ends.

[0065] Furthermore, the server's percentile determination unit 220 does not determine that AP100 is not installed in an appropriate location, so it does not send anything to the information output unit.

[0066] <t=240 minutes> At t=240 minutes, the control unit 120 of AP100 notifies the measurement unit 130 to measure the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal.

[0067] When the measurement unit 130 of AP100 receives a notification from the control unit 120, it measures the uplink RSSI of the connected terminal. Here, it is assumed that the value listed in the "t = 240 minutes" column of Figure 6 was measured, and the combination information of the connected terminal's MAC address and RSSI is transmitted to the communication unit 140.

[0068] When the AP's communication unit 140 receives the MAC address and RSSI combination information of the connected terminal from the measurement unit 130, it transmits this information to the server 200 with the IP address (1.2.3.4).

[0069] When the communication unit 230 of the server 200 receives MAC address and RSSI combination information of the connected terminal from the AP 100, it transmits them to the percentile determination unit 220.

[0070] The percentile determination unit 220 of the server 200 calculates the 90th percentile value of RSSI from the uplink RSSI information of the connected terminal. In this case, the 90th percentile value is -62.6.

[0071] The percentile determination unit 220 then determines whether AP 100 is installed in the appropriate location, following the flowchart in Figure 2. Currently, eRSSI is -60 and the 90th percentile value is -62.6, so the counter value (cnt) is increased by 1 to 3, which is greater than or equal to N (=3), and therefore it is determined that AP is not installed in the appropriate location.

[0072] The percentile determination unit 220 of server 200 determined that AP 100 was not installed in an appropriate location, and therefore sent the determination result and the MAC addresses of connected terminals 1, 2, 3, and 5 whose uplink RSSI values ​​were less than or equal to the A percentile value to the information output unit 240.

[0073] The information output unit 240 notifies the external party of the judgment result and the MAC address of the connected terminal. For example, if a user accesses the server with a browser, the result and terminal information requiring improvement, as shown in Figure 7, will be displayed on the screen of the user's terminal. Similarly, when notifying the judgment result to a registered email address, the result and terminal information requiring improvement will be transmitted.

[0074] The user changes the installation location of AP100 so that the terminal with the notified MAC address is closer to AP100, thereby reducing the number of terminals connected to the AP with undesirable quality.

[0075] (Example Hardware Configuration) The server 200 (information processing device) described in this embodiment can be realized, for example, by having a computer execute a program. This computer may be a physical computer or a virtual machine on the cloud.

[0076] In other words, the device can be realized by using hardware resources such as the CPU and memory built into a computer to execute a program corresponding to the processing performed by the device. The program can be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium (such as portable memory), saved, and distributed. It can also be provided via a network, such as the Internet or email.

[0077] Figure 8 shows an example of the hardware configuration of the computer described above. The computer in Figure 8 has a drive device 1000, an auxiliary storage device 1002, a memory device 1003, a CPU 1004, an interface device 1005, a display device 1006, an input device 1007, an output device 1008, etc., all of which are interconnected by bus B. The computer may also be equipped with a GPU.

[0078] The program that enables processing on the computer is provided on a recording medium 1001, such as a CD-ROM or memory card. When the recording medium 1001 containing the program is set in the drive device 1000, the program is installed from the recording medium 1001 to the auxiliary storage device 1002 via the drive device 1000. However, the program does not necessarily have to be installed from the recording medium 1001; it may also be downloaded from another computer via a network. The auxiliary storage device 1002 stores the installed program as well as necessary files and data.

[0079] The memory device 1003 reads and stores a program from the auxiliary storage device 1002 when a program startup command is received. The CPU 1004 implements the functions related to the memory device 1003 according to the program stored in the memory device 1003. The interface device 1005 is used as an interface for connecting to a network, etc. The display device 1006 displays a GUI (Graphical User Interface) etc., based on a program. The input device 1007 consists of a keyboard and mouse, buttons, or a touch panel, etc., and is used to input various operation commands. The output device 1008 outputs the calculation results.

[0080] (Effects of the Embodiment) As described above, the technology described in this embodiment makes it possible to verify whether an AP is installed in an appropriate location without the wireless LAN construction company having to visit the site and without imposing any burden on the user.

[0081] The following additional information is disclosed regarding the embodiments described above.

[0082] <Notes> (Note 1) An information processing device comprising: a communication unit that receives received signal strength measured at a wireless base station connected to multiple terminals from the wireless base station; and a determination unit that determines whether or not the wireless base station is installed in an appropriate location by comparing a statistical value calculated from the received signal strengths of the multiple terminals with a reference value. (Note 2) The information processing device according to Note 1, wherein the statistical value is a percentile value of a predetermined value in the received signal strength of the multiple terminals, and the determination unit determines that the wireless base station is not installed in an appropriate location when it detects a state in which the reference value is greater than or equal to the percentile value for a predetermined number of consecutive times. (Note 3) The information processing device according to Note 2, further comprising an information output unit that outputs the MAC addresses of terminals whose received signal strength is less than or equal to the percentile value when it is determined that the wireless base station is not installed in an appropriate location. (Note 4) A system comprising a wireless base station and the information processing device according to any one of Notes 1 to 3.

[0083] Although this embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this specific embodiment, and various modifications and changes are possible within the scope of the gist of the invention as described in the claims.

[0084] 100 AP 110 Information Input Unit 120 Control Unit 130 Measurement Unit 140 Communication Unit 200 Server 210 Information Input Unit 220 Percentile Determination Unit 230 Communication Unit 240 Information Output Unit 1000 Drive Device 1001 Recording Medium 1002 Auxiliary Storage Device 1003 Memory Device 1004 CPU 1005 Interface Device 1006 Display Device 1007 Input Device 1008 Output Device

Claims

1. An information processing device comprising: a communication unit that receives received signal strength measured at a wireless base station connected to multiple terminals from the wireless base station; and a determination unit that determines whether the wireless base station is installed in an appropriate location by comparing a statistical value calculated from the received signal strength of the multiple terminals with a reference value.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the statistical value is a percentile value of a predetermined value in the received signal strength of the plurality of terminals, and the determination unit determines that the wireless base station is not installed in an appropriate location when it detects a state in which the reference value is equal to or greater than the percentile value a predetermined number of times consecutively.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising an information output unit that outputs the MAC address of a terminal whose received signal strength is less than or equal to the percentile value when it is determined that the wireless base station is not installed in an appropriate location.

4. A system comprising a wireless base station and an information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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