COMMUNICATION APPARATUS

• US 20100008285A1
• Filed: 06/01/2009
• Published: 01/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: KURODA, Masaru
• Granted Patent: US 8,411,640 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0055 Transmission or use of information for re-establishing the radio link

Abstract

A communication apparatus transmits a request message to connectable relay apparatuses, and receives a response message from the relay apparatuses. The communication apparatus determines whether the received request message includes the device identification data of a relay apparatus to which it is currently connected. If no received response message includes the device identification data of a relay apparatus to which it is currently connected, the communication apparatus requests another relay apparatus identified based on device identification data that is included in any of the received response messages to make a connection with the communication apparatus.

Claims

1. A communication apparatus capable of connecting to one of a plurality of relay apparatuses that relays wireless communications, the communication apparatus comprising:

an identification-data storage unit that stores therein first device identification data for identifying a first relay apparatus to which the communication apparatus is currently being connected, the first device identification data being unique to the first relay apparatus;

a transmitting unit that transmits a request message that requests connectable relay apparatuses to return a response message;

a receiving unit that receives response messages from the connectable relay apparatuses, each of the response message including individual device identification data of the relay apparatus that transmitted the request message;

a determining unit that determines whether received request message includes the individual device identification data that matches with the first device identification data stored in the identification-data storage unit; and

a connection requesting unit that requests, if no received response message includes the individual device identification data that matches with the first device identification data stored in the identification-data storage unit, a second relay apparatus from among the relay apparatuses identified by second device identification data that is included in any of the received response messages to make a connection with the communication apparatus.

2. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the relay apparatuses are allocated with network identification data for identifying a wireless network,

the identification-data storage unit stores therein the first device identification data of the first relay apparatus and first network identification data that is allocated to the first relay apparatus,

the transmitting unit transmits the request message including the first network identification data stored in the identification-data storage unit, and

the receiving unit receives, if relay apparatuses that are allocated with the first network identification data receive the request message, the response message from each of the relay apparatuses.

3. The communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the network identification data is a service set identifier (SSID) defined by an IEEE 801.11.

4. The communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the transmitting unit transmits the request message including the first network identification data and the first device identification data both stored in the identification-data storage unit,

the receiving unit receives, if the relay apparatuses that are allocated with the first network identification data receive the request message including the first network identification data and the first device identification data, the response message from the relay apparatuses,

the determining unit determines whether the response message received in response to the request message including the first network identification data and the first device identification data includes the individual device identification data that matches with the first device identification data stored in the identification-data storage unit, and

the connection requesting unit requests, if no received response message in response to the request message including the first network identification data and the first device identification data includes the individual device identification data that matches with the first device identification data stored in the identification-data storage unit, the second relay apparatus identified by the second device identification data included in any of the received response messages to make the connection with the communication apparatus.

5. The communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the device identification data is a basic service set identifier (BSSID) defined by an IEEE 801.11.

6. The communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the identification-data storage unit stores therein channel data indicative of a channel via which data is transmitted wirelessly to or from the first relay apparatus, and

the transmitting unit transmits the request message including the first network identification data but excluding the device identification data via every channel available in the wireless communications, and transmits the request message including the first network identification data and the first device identification data via the channel that is identified by the channel data stored in the identification-data storage unit.

7. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a radio-wave-intensity detecting unit that detects an intensity of a radio wave at which the response message is received, wherein

the connection request unit requests, if the response message including the individual device identification data that matches with the first device identification data stored in the identification-data storage unit is received at an intensity weaker than a first threshold, the second relay apparatus identified by the second device identification data included in any of the received response messages to make the connection with the communication apparatus.

8. The communication apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the transmitting unit transmits the request message including the first network identification data and the first device identification data at a plurality of times, and

the receiving unit receives the response message each time in response to the request message that has been transmitted several times,

the communication apparatus further comprising a calculating unit that calculates an average of the intensities of the radio waves at which the response messages including same individual device identification data are received, wherein

the connection requesting unit requests, if the average of the intensities of the radio waves at which the response messages including the individual device identification data that matches with the first device identification data stored in the identification-data storage unit are received is weaker than the first threshold, the second relay apparatus identified by the second device identification data included in any of the received response messages to make the connection with the communication apparatus.

9. The communication apparatus according to claim 7, wherein, if no received response message includes the individual device identification data that matches with the first device identification data stored in the identification-data storage unit, the connection requesting unit selects a response message that has been received at an intensity stronger than the first threshold from among the received response messages, and requests a relay apparatus that is identified by the individual device identification data stored in selected response message to make the connection with the communication apparatus.

10. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an intensity/noise detecting unit that detects an intensity of a radio wave at which the response message is received, and an intensity of noise; and

a calculating unit that calculates a signal-to-noise ratio indicative of a ratio of the intensity of the radio wave to the intensity of noise, wherein

the connection request unit requests, if the signal-to-noise ratio that is calculated from the intensity of the radio wave at which the response message including the individual device identification data that matches with the first device identification data stored in the identification-data storage unit is received is smaller than a second threshold, the second relay apparatus identified by the second device identification data included in any of the received response messages to make the connection with the communication apparatus.

11. The communication apparatus according to claim 10, wherein

the transmitting unit transmits the request message including the first network identification data and the first device identification data at a plurality of times, and

the receiving unit receives the response message each time in response to the request message that has been transmitted several times,

the calculating unit calculates an average of the signal-to-noise ratios of the response messages including same individual device identification data are received, wherein

the connection requesting unit requests, if the average of the of the signal-to-noise ratios of the response messages including the individual device identification data that matches with the first device identification data stored in the identification-data storage unit are received is weaker than a second threshold, the second relay apparatus identified by the second device identification data included in any of the received response messages to make the connection with the communication apparatus.

12. The communication apparatus according to claim 10, wherein, if no received response message includes the individual device identification data that matches with the first device identification data stored in the identification-data storage unit, the connection requesting unit selects a response message for which calculated signal-to-noise ratio is stronger than the second threshold from among the received response messages, and requests a relay apparatus that is identified by the individual device identification data stored in selected response message to make the connection with the communication apparatus.

13. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a quality detecting unit that detects a signal quality of a radio wave at which the response message is received, wherein

the connection request unit requests, if the response message including the individual device identification data that matches with the first device identification data stored in the identification-data storage unit is received at a signal quality weaker than a third threshold, the second relay apparatus identified by the second device identification data included in any of the received response messages to make the connection with the communication apparatus.

14. The communication apparatus according to claim 13, wherein

the transmitting unit transmits the request message including the first network identification data and the first device identification data at a plurality of times, and

the receiving unit receives the response message each time in response to the request message that has been transmitted several times,

the communication apparatus further comprising a calculating unit that calculates an average of the signal qualities of the radio waves at which the response messages including same individual device identification data are received, wherein

the connection requesting unit requests, if the average of the signal qualities of the radio waves at which the response messages including the individual device identification data that matches with the first device identification data stored in the identification-data storage unit are received is weaker than the third threshold, the second relay apparatus identified by the second device identification data included in any of the received response messages to make the connection with the communication apparatus.

15. The communication apparatus according to claim 13, wherein, if no received response message includes the individual device identification data that matches with the first device identification data stored in the identification-data storage unit, the connection requesting unit selects a response message for which calculated signal quality is stronger than the third threshold from among the received response messages, and requests a relay apparatus that is identified by the individual device identification data stored in selected response message to make the connection with the communication apparatus.