NETWORK REPEATER, REPEATER CONTROLLING METHOD AND PROGRAM PRODUCT

• US 20080298812A1
• Filed: 05/30/2008
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: NAGATOMO, Shoichi, Iizuka, Nobuo
• Granted Patent: US 7,970,282 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/173
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/1149 Arrangements for indoor wireless networking of information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user

Abstract

A bridge controller, which controls relay between terminals including emission units and addresses assigned to the terminals, acquires coordinates of a light-received element in an light receiving unit at which light emitted from an emission unit is received, and stores the acquired coordinates in a location information table memory in association with a logical location on the network. Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the stored coordinates differ from newly acquired coordinates. When it is determined that the stored coordinates differ from the newly acquired coordinates, the logical location associated with the coordinates stored in the storage unit is controlled to be changed and stored.

Claims

1. A network repeater which controls relay between a node including a light emitting device and a logical location assigned to the node on a network, the network repeater comprising:

a light detector including light receiving elements which are two-dimensionally arranged with regularity;

a coordinate acquiring unit configured to acquire coordinates of a light receiving element which detects light emitted from the light emitting device;

a storage unit configured to store the coordinates acquired by the coordinate acquiring unit in association with a logical location of the node on the network;

a first determination unit configured to determine whether or not the coordinates stored in the storage unit differ from coordinates newly acquired by the coordinate acquiring unit; and

a storage controller configured to control the logical location associated with the coordinates stored in the storage unit to be changed and stored when the first determination unit determines that the coordinates stored in the storage unit differ from the coordinates newly acquired by the coordinate acquiring unit.

2. The network repeater according to claim 1, further comprising an information generator configured to generate information assigned uniquely to the node from a temporal change in luminance of the light emitting device when the luminance of the light emitting device changes temporally, and wherein the storage unit stores the information generated by the information generator in association with the logical location of the node on the network.

3. The network repeater according to claim 2, further comprising:

a reception unit configured to receive data from the network;

a logical location detector configured to detect from the data received by the reception unit a logical location of a sender of the data;

a second determination unit configured to determine whether or not a change is made by the storage controller with respect to coordinates associated with the logical location detected by the logical location detector;

a first transmitter configured to transmit the data to the logical location generated by the information generator when the second determination unit determines that the change is made by the storage controller; and

a second transmitter configured to transmit the data to the coordinates when the second determination unit determines that the change is not made.

4. The network repeater according to claim 3, wherein the first transmitter transmits the data by radio communication.

5. The network repeater according to claim 3, wherein the second transmitter transmits the data by blink of light.

6. A repeater controlling method for controlling a network repeater which controls relay between a node including a light emitting device and a logical location on a network assigned to the node, the network repeater including light receiving elements which are two-dimensionally arranged with regularity, the method comprising:

acquiring coordinates of an light receiving element which detects light emitted from the light emitting device;

storing the acquired coordinates in association with a logical location of the node on the network in storage;

determining whether or not the coordinates stored in the storage differ from newly acquired coordinates; and

controlling the logical location associated with the coordinates stored in the storage unit to be changed and stored when it is determined that the coordinates stored in the storage differ from the newly acquired coordinates.

7. A computer program product for use with a network repeater which controls relay between a node including a light emitting device and a logical location assigned to the node on a network, the network repeater including light receiving elements which are two-dimensionally arranged with regularity, the computer program product being stored in a computer usable medium including computer readable program means, the computer program product comprising:

first computer readable program means for acquiring coordinates of an light receiving element which detects light emitted from the light emitting device;

second computer readable program means for storing the acquired coordinates in association with a logical location of the node on the network in storage;

third computer readable program means for determining whether or not the coordinates stored in the storage differ from newly acquired coordinates; and

forth computer readable program means for controlling the logical location associated with the coordinates stored in the storage unit to be changed and stored when it is determined that the coordinates stored in the storage differ from the newly acquired coordinates.