Method of creation of a new communication network by a wireless terminal and terminal implementing the method

Method for creating new communication network through wireless terminal and terminal for realizing said method

Technical field

The present invention relates to a method of creating a new network through a terminal, more specifically, when the terminal is initially associated with an existing network. The invention also relates to the terminal itself. It is especially used in an environment with centralized control of wireless networks, although it is not limited to this environment.

Background technique

The HIPERLAN 2 centralized wireless communication network has limited resources. When a large number of terminals are associated with the network, some terminals may not be able to reserve the resources required by their applications.

The document "ETSI TS 101 761-4 V1.4.1A(2002-5) BRAN HIPERLAN Type2, Data Link Control (DLC) Layer; Part 4: Extension for HomeEnvironment, section 6.7.1'Dynamic Central ControllerSelection/Principle'" is published A wireless terminal that can become a central controller, and for it, when the attempt to associate with the central controller of the existing network fails, it itself attempts to become the central controller by initiating the central controller selection process described in the aforementioned document Controller.

Summary of the invention

The present invention relates to a method for creating a new communication network through a wireless terminal. The method is characterized in that the wireless terminal is initially part of an existing centralized network, and the network includes a network that can control the wireless terminal's association with its network. For the access point, for the associated terminal, the method includes the following steps:-disassociating the terminal from the network; and-initiating a process for creating a new network, including declaring the terminal as the new The access point of the network, wherein the operating parameters of the new network are such that communication on the new network does not interfere with the existing network.

Therefore, terminals that were previously associated with the network but have been disassociated from this network can create a new network without interfering with the original network. As a result, new resources are available.

According to a preferred embodiment, the terminal actively performs the disassociation. For example, if the access point of the original network does not successfully respond to a specific request, such as a request related to resource allocation of an existing network, the terminal can decide to disassociate.

Description of the drawings

Through the description of the non-limiting example embodiments explained with reference to the accompanying drawings, other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent, among which: FIG. 1 shows the case of disassociation after association, the terminal and A schematic diagram of information exchange between access points; Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the same type as Figure 1, when the access point refuses to initiate a frequency change; Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the same type as Figure 1, when the connection establishment is rejected In case; Figure 4 is a flowchart of a method according to an example embodiment.

detailed description

The exemplary embodiment is suitable for the environment of the HIPERLAN 2 communication network. HIPERLAN 2 is a standard being developed by ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute). In such a network in which communication is performed through radio waves of about 5 GHz, a unit called an access point (AP) or a central controller (CC) manages the access of other network devices to the transmission medium. These other devices are called wireless terminals or mobile terminals (MT). In order to be able to access the network, the wireless terminal must first be associated with the access point. Especially the related process is described in the following documents: "ETSI TS 101 761-2 V.1.4.1A (2002-05) Broadband RadioAccess Networks (BRAN); HIPERLAN Type 2: Data Link Control (DLC) Layer; Part 2: Radio Link Control (RLC) Sublayer", especially in clause 5.1 "Services supporting ACF (Association Control Function)".

According to this exemplary embodiment, there may be various reasons for disassociating the wireless terminal from the access point, or disassociating the associated wireless terminal.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a network with an access point AP/CC and a wireless terminal MT. Other wireless terminals of the network are not shown. A wireless terminal typically has an interface with a communication medium (wireless network) and a microprocessor running an application program and an appropriate protocol, and the code of the application program or the protocol is stored in the internal memory of the terminal. The schematic diagram shown in FIG. 1 shows the information exchanged between the two devices during the association attempt between the wireless terminal MT and the access point AP/CC. Once activated, the wireless terminal analyzes the radio activity to detect the emergence of a network with the characteristics of prior association. These features especially include network identification and are broadcast in data frames controlled by the access point.

The terminal initiates a dialogue with the access point to exchange parameters, such as the list of supported convergence layers, and whether the wireless terminal can transmit to another wireless terminal in direct mode. In Figure 1, it is assumed that the association occurs. Later, for the currently associated mobile terminal, the access point can arbitrarily decide to associate this terminal.

In addition, the wireless terminal associated with the access point may be interfered by equipment of another network using the same frequency. In this case, the wireless terminal can request its associated access point to change the frequency of the network. This process is called DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection). However, the access point can refuse to change the frequency, so the wireless terminal can disassociate itself. If the access point does not answer the DFS request within a predetermined time, the wireless terminal can also disassociate itself. This scenario is shown in Figure 2.

Fig. 3 shows a network in a state in which a wireless terminal is associated with an access point. The wireless terminal issues a connection establishment request to the access point. The access point can reject the request and notify the wireless terminal of the rejection. If the level of traffic on the network is important, this situation may occur. According to this exemplary embodiment, the mobile terminal's application can then decide to disassociate itself from the network, at least for some types of connections. According to this embodiment, this disassociation is initiated only when other connections in the network do not involve the mobile terminal.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method according to this exemplary embodiment. After a request such as, for example, establishing a connection or changing frequency is rejected, the wireless terminal disassociates itself from the existing network. In the other two cases already described, the wireless terminal has been disassociated (in the example, after the access point has decided, or after the access point's association is rejected).

Then, the disassociated wireless terminal establishes itself as the access point of the new network.

Where possible, it advantageously uses a different frequency from the original network, with the purpose of avoiding any interference. If a new network is created after the rejection of the frequency change, the new network will advantageously use a different frequency from that of the original network and the interfering network. To this end, the mobile terminal may initiate the central controller selection process mentioned in the background art.

The new access point cannot notify the associated terminal of its new status in advance. Once disassociated, it is the task of another terminal to search for a new access point and associate with it.

According to an embodiment, several terminals of the same existing network may decide to disassociate from the existing network to create their own network. Then, these terminals initiate a selection process to determine which of these terminals will serve as the access point of the new network. Elements that can communicate between devices to make disassociation decisions through existing networks. Therefore, the new network can avoid saturation of some resources of the original network by operating on another frequency.