COMMUNICATION APPARATUS, COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM

• US 20170099573A1
• Filed: 09/28/2016
• Published: 04/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2015
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Sawada, Tetsuya
• Application Number:
  US15/279,299
• Publication Number:
  US 20170099573A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/019 Energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0295 Proximity-based methods, e.g. position inferred from reception of particular signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A communication apparatus includes a first obtaining unit that obtains an access point'"'"'s position information using wireless LAN communication, a second obtaining unit that obtains the communication apparatus'"'"' position using non-wireless LAN communication, a determination unit that determines whether a distance between the access point and the communication apparatus is less than or equal to a predetermined value, and a control unit configured to, in a case where the determination unit determines that the distance between the access point and the communication apparatus is less than or equal to the predetermined value, employ the access point'"'"'s position information as the communication apparatus'"'"' position information and shift the second obtaining unit into a suspended state.

Claims

1. A communication apparatus comprising:

a first obtaining unit configured to obtain an access point'"'"'s position information through communication via a wireless LAN;

a second obtaining unit configured to obtain the communication apparatus'"'"' position information using a communication method different from the wireless LAN;

a determination unit configured to determine whether a distance between the access point and the communication apparatus is less than or equal to a predetermined value; and

a control unit configured to, in a case where the determination unit determines that the distance between the access point and the communication apparatus is less than or equal to the predetermined value, employ the access point'"'"'s position information as the communication apparatus'"'"' position information and shift the second obtaining unit into a suspended state.

2. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in a case where the first obtaining unit obtains a plurality of access points'"'"' position information, the control unit selects a piece of position information, based on a distance between each of the plurality of access points and the communication apparatus, and determines that the selected position information is employed as the communication apparatus'"'"' position information.

3. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit transmits a probe request to the access point whose position information has been obtained so that the determination unit determines whether the distance between the access point and the communication apparatus is less than or equal to the predetermined value.

4. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication method used by the second obtaining unit is a communication method using a global positioning satellite.

5. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first obtaining unit obtains the access point'"'"'s position information using local configuration information (LCI) based on IEEE802.11k standard.

6. A communication method comprising:

obtaining an access point'"'"'s position information through communication via a wireless LAN;

obtaining a communication apparatus'"'"' position information using a communication method different from the wireless LAN;

determining whether a distance between the access point and the communication apparatus is less than or equal to a predetermined value;

employing, in a case where it is determined that the distance between the access point and the communication apparatus is less than or equal to the predetermined value, the access points'"'"' position information as the communication apparatus'"'"' position information; and

suspending obtaining the communication apparatus'"'"' position information.

7. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions for causing a computer to execute a method, the method comprising:

obtaining an access point'"'"'s position information through communication via a wireless LAN;

obtaining a communication apparatus'"'"' position information using a communication method different from the wireless LAN;

determining whether a distance between the access point and the communication apparatus is less than or equal to a predetermined value;

employing, in a case where it is determined that the distance between the access point and the communication apparatus is less than or equal to the predetermined value, the access points'"'"' position information as the communication apparatus'"'"' position information; and

suspending obtaining the communication apparatus'"'"' position information.