Wireless LAN system for predicting movement destination of child station and wireless LAN parent station therefor

• US 7,269,154 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2003
• Issued: 09/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Infrontia Corporation (NEC Corporation)
• Inventors: Kobayashi, Yoshikazu, Hosoda, Hironori
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild; Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): DOAN, KIET M
• Application Number:
  US10/721,283
• Publication Number:
  US 20040105417A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,385 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/331, 455/432
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/32 by location or mobility data, e.g. speed data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/322 by location data

Abstract

In the wireless LAN system including the child station and parent stations, when each parent station detects handover of the child station during QoS communication through a wireless communication section, a table control section acquires the table where MAC addresses of movement destination parent stations have been registered and the band reserving request signal transmitting section transmits the band reserving request frame to the parent stations through a LAN communication section via Ethernet. The table control section includes a registering means which registers the acquired table, a deleting means which deletes the table and a managing means which updates and manages the table.

Claims

1. A wireless LAN system for predicting movement destination of a child station, which includes the child station and a plurality of parent stations, wherein each of said parent stations has a MAC address and comprises:

a wireless communication section for conducting communication with the child station, the communication including detecting a handover of said child station from said parent station;

a table control section acquiring a table having the MAC address of each said parent stations that, relative to said parent station, can be a movement destination parent station registered, in response to said wireless communication section detecting the handover of the child station;

a band reserving request signal transmitting section for generating a transmission instruction for transmitting a band reserving request frame to all of said plurality of movement parent stations having their respective MAC address registered in said table movement destination parent station; and

a LAN communication section for receiving the transmission instruction and transmitting the band reserving request frame to the movement destination parent stations via LAN, further comprising;

a local area route information server for providing a route information to each of said parent stations, said route information representing a direction that a child station cannot be moved in relation to said parent station, wherein

said parent station further comprises a route state determining section for receiving and storing the route information and, based on said stored route information, nullifying a transmission instruction for transmitting a band reserving reguest to the parent station positioned in the direction in which the child station can not be moved.

2. The wireless LAN system according to claim 1, wherein each of said parent stations further comprises:

a transmitter for transmitting a beacon signal identifying said parent station;

a signal strength measuring section for receiving and quantifying a beacon signal of at least one adjacent parent station of the parent stations, wherein

said table control section receives information of the qualified beacon signal and produces the table obtained by selecting and registering only the parent stations which generates a signal with a constant value or more, and

when the child station is moved, the band reserving request frame is transmitted to the parent station which is predicted as the movement destination on the basis of the movement destination parent station position information which the table control section has.

3. The wireless LAN system for predicting movement destination of a child according to claim 2, wherein

said parent station further comprises a movement direction determining section for comparing MAC addresses of the parent stations existing in a movement source and the movement destination of the child station with each other, and for nullifying the transmission instruction of the reserving request to the band reserving request signal transmitting section, when the MAC addresses are the same.

4. The system according to claim 2, further comprising a local area route information server for providing a route information to each of said parent stations, said route information representing a direction that a child station cannot be moved in relation to said parent station, wherein

said parent station further comprises a route state determining section for receiving and storing the route information and, based on said stored route information, nullifying a transmission instruction for transmitting a band reserving request to the parent station positioned in the direction in which the child station can not be moved.

5. The system according to claim 2, wherein

said table control section counts the number of movement times of the child station per movement destination to produce the table to represent the probability of each of the parent stations being the movement destination of the child station, and instructs to transmit the band reserving request frame to the parent station with the highest movement probability of the table.

6. The wireless LAN system for predicting movement destination of a child according to claim 1, wherein

said parent station further comprises a movement direction determining section for comparing MAC addresses of the parent stations existing in a movement source and the movement destination of the child station with each other, and for nullifying the transmission instruction of the reserving request to the band reserving request signal transmitting section, when the MAC addresses are the same.

7. The system according to claim 6, further comprising a local area route information server for providing a route information to each of said parent stations, said route information representing a direction that a child station cannot be moved in relation to said parent station, wherein

said parent station further comprises a route state determining section for receiving and storing the route information and, based on said stored route information, nullifying a transmission instruction for transmitting a band reserving request to the parent station positioned in the direction in which the child station can not be moved.

8. The system according to claim 6, wherein

said table control section counts the number of movement times of the child station per movement destination to produce the table to represent the probability of each of the parent stations being the movement destination of the child station, and instructs to transmit the band reserving request frame to the parent station with the highest movement probability of the table.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein

said table control section counts the number of movement times of the child station per movement destination to produce the table to represent the probability of each of the parent stations being the movement destination of the child station, and instructs to transmit the band reserving request frame to the parent station with the highest movement probability of the table.

10. The wireless LAN system for predicting movement destination of a child according to claim 1, wherein

said table control section counts the number of movement times of the child station for each aspect of movement source per movement destination from association setting information at a handover time to produce the table obtained by calculating movement destination ratios of the child station, and instructs to transmit the band reserving request frame to the parent station with the highest movement probability of the table.

11. A wireless LAN parent station for predicting movement destination of a child station, comprising:

a wireless communication section for conducting communication with the child station, the communication including detecting a handover of said child station from said parent station;

a table control section for acquiring a table having the MAC address of each said parent stations that, relative to said parent station, can be a movement destination parent station registered, in response to said wireless communication section detecting the handover of the child station;

a band reserving request signal transmitting section for generating a transmission instruction for transmitting a band reserving request frame to all of said plurality of movement parent stations having their respective MAC address registered in said table movement destination parent station; and

a LAN communication section for receiving the transmission instruction and transmitting the band reserving request frame to the movement destination parent stations via LAN, further comprising;

a local area route information server for providing a route information to each of said parent stations, said route information representing a direction that a child station cannot be moved in relation to said parent station, wherein

said parent station further comprises a route state determining section for receiving and storing the route information and, based on said stored route information, nullifying a transmission instruction for transmitting a band reserving request to the parent station positioned in the direction in which the child station can not be moved.