Information processing device and a program. particularly for easily identifying a type of a discovered ap and inform a user about it

INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE AND PROGRAM

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a network system for explaining the outline of functions of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment under the communication environment shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment;

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of a database according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a diagram illustrating an application processing procedure related to a communication service according to the first embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a database according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a diagram illustrating an application processing procedure related to a communication service according to the second embodiment.

8A and 8B are diagrams showing a configuration example of a character according to each of the above embodiments;

9A and 9B are diagrams showing a configuration example of a character according to each of the above embodiments;

<Explanation of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

10: IP network

20: access point (AP)

30: personal computer (PC)

31: Database (DB)

32: display unit (DISP)

101: CPU

103: main memory

106: hard disk drive (HDD)

107: Wired LAN device

108: wireless LAN device

130: communication control program

RB: Beacon

<background-art><p>The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus having a wireless communication function. Further, the present invention relates to a program suitable for application to a portable electronic device having a wireless communication function, such as a notebook-type personal computer and a PDA.</p><p>In general, an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer includes a network device such as a wired LAN device. The network device is used to connect the information processing apparatus to the network. By connecting the information processing apparatus to a network such as the Internet, it becomes possible to acquire information from other computers on the network and to share information with other computers. Most computers use an operating system that supports network access functions. In the case of such a configuration, even a user without technical knowledge about the network can easily connect the information processing apparatus to a network such as the Internet.</p><p>In recent years, small information processing devices such as notebook type personal computers and personal digital assistants (PDA's) have a function of discovering wireless LAN access points existing in the vicinity under the system requirements and performing network connection (eg, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10- See publication 89980).</p><p>When these devices connect to an access point of a wireless LAN, they first find an access point capable of communicating, and then connect. However, at this time, there is a problem that the ID, type, etc. of the discovered access point cannot be easily identified.</p></background-art><tech><p>SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing apparatus and a program that, when an access point is discovered, can easily identify the type of the discovered access point and notify the user. Still another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus and a program that extend useful functions by recording and managing discovered access points.</p></tech>

<p>According to one aspect of the present invention, an information processing apparatus having a communication function for performing network connection via a wireless relay device includes: a first unit for discovering a wireless relay device; and a second unit that, when the first unit discovers the wireless relay device, displays information characterized according to the identification information of the wireless relay device. The present invention may also be realized by a method, a computer program, or the like.</p><p>According to the present invention, for example, in a portable information processing device, when an access point of, for example, a wireless LAN constituting a wireless relay device is found (receiving a beacon transmitted from the access point) under system requirements that do not specify a location, a predetermined Identification information (eg, SSID, BSSID, etc.) of the discovered access point is collected under the condition of , and the number of times of discovery is updated. When an access point is found, for example, various messages can be displayed according to the number of times the access point has been discovered. Also, as an extension of the function, it is possible to provide a function that enables easy setting of the communication environment at the place of use based on the displayed information.</p><p>Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.</p><p>1 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration for explaining the outline of the function of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of operation of the terminal in the communication environment of the system configuration shown in Fig. 1;</p><p>As shown in FIG. 1 , the wireless LAN access areas A, B, and C each establish a communication network via an IP network 10 . In the wireless LAN access areas A, B, and C, a printer, a network, a server such as a file, and a wireless LAN access point (AP) 20 are respectively provided.</p><p>The terminal, which is a client, is realized by, for example, a portable personal computer (PC) 30 . This personal computer 30 is connected to an access point 20 in a wireless LAN access area by a wireless LAN, and has a communication function for performing network connection with an arbitrary device via the various servers and IP network 10 described above. has a</p><p>According to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in Fig. 2, when the personal computer 30 discovers the access points 20 in the wireless LAN access areas A, B, and C, the access points found under predetermined conditions The identification information (SSID, BSSID, etc.) of (20) is collected. Next, the personal computer 30 updates and manages the number of times of discovery of the discovered access point 20 on the database (DB) 31, and displays, for example, various messages on the display unit 32 according to the number of times of discovery of the access point. indicate SSID (extended service set identity) is an ID (identification information) for grouping access points, etc., BSSID (basic service set identity) is an ID for authenticating communication terminals, etc. at the MAC layer, and SSID and BSSID are access points, respectively. It can be recognized by receiving a beacon (RB) sent from (20).</p><p>The apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration. When the access point 20 is discovered (that is, when the beacon RB transmitted from the access point 20 is received), to notify the user of its status (in addition, the discovered access point 20 is For setting in an usable environment] display information is prepared (maintained) in a predetermined form. Then, when the access point 20 is found, a specific character (notification window) as shown in Fig. 1 that can easily recognize the type of access point prepared in advance is displayed for a predetermined time. Furthermore, at this time, the specific character is characterized and displayed according to the number of times of discovery of the access point. For example, the size, color, etc. of the displayed character are changed according to the number of times the access point is found. Alternatively, a plurality of different characters are prepared for each step according to the number of times of discovery of the access point, and the displayed character is switched according to the number of times of discovery of the access point and presented to the user. In addition, by defining this display character as an operation icon, it becomes possible to set an optimal communication profile suitable for the current communication environment in accordance with the corresponding icon operation.</p><p>The apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration. A database (DB) 31 storing information related to each of the access points 20 that can be discovered by the personal computer 30 is downloaded in advance to a predetermined storage area via the communication network. Then, when the access point 20 is discovered, information related to the access point 20 is acquired from the database 31, the corresponding information is characterized according to the number of times the access point is discovered, and for a predetermined time period indicate For example, when a beacon (RB) is received from the access point (A) 20 in the wireless LAN access area A, service information corresponding to the number of times of discovery of the corresponding access point (A) 20 is displayed, and wireless LAN access is performed. When the beacon (RB) of the access point (B) 20 in the area B is received, advertisement information unique to the corresponding access point (B) 20 is displayed. In addition, when a beacon (RB) is received from the access point (C) 20 in the wireless LAN access area C, for example, if the number of times of discovery of the corresponding access point (C) 20 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, that day is It is determined whether it is a pre-registered birthday, and if the date is a birthday, information such as a birthday message and a calm introduction of a birthday present is displayed for a predetermined time. In addition, for example, in relation to the number of discoveries, information such as time zone, am/pm, week, day, season, period, birthday, weather, etc., information such as service and sale information is displayed for a predetermined time.</p><p>In addition, the number of times of discovery of the access point may be updated (incremented) in the following way, for example. </p><p>(1) at a predetermined time interval (eg, 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc.) under an operation mode capable of receiving a beacon (RB) from the access point 20 </p><p>(2) When the reception environment of the beacon RB is changed, when there is no change for a predetermined time </p><p>(3) Set the time zone to a specific predetermined time interval (for example, in units of 10 minutes, etc.) </p><p>(4) under other conditions</p><p>Next, with reference to FIG. 3, the system configuration of the personal computer 30 will be described.</p><p>As shown in Fig. 3, the personal computer 30 includes a CPU 101, a host bridge 102, a main memory 103, a display controller 104, a system controller 105, a hard disk drive (HDD) ( 106), a wired LAN device 107, a wireless LAN device 108, a BIOS-ROM 110, and an embedded controller/keyboard controller IC (EC/KBC) 111, and the like.</p><p>The CPU 101 is a processor installed to control the operation of the computer, and executes an operating system (OS) and various application/utility programs loaded from a hard disk drive (HDD) 106 into the main memory 103 . In addition, the CPU 101 also executes the BIOS (Basic Input Output System) stored in the BIOS-ROM 110 . Further, the CPU 101 executes the communication control program 130 stored in the main memory 103 according to a predetermined setting condition (for example, at regular time intervals), and is shown in Fig. 5 (the first embodiment) or Fig. 7 (the first embodiment). Application processing (refer to Figs. 5 and 7) related to the communication service as shown in the second embodiment) is executed. Application processing related to this communication service will be described later.</p><p>In the personal computer 30, a communication control program 130 is installed in advance as one of the utility programs. The communication control program 130 controls the communication of the computer, for example, a function to register and preserve the network setting environment in each use place having a different communication environment such as home and office as a communication profile, and using the communication profile It includes a function to automatically set up a network to an optimal communication environment, and a function to automatically switch to a wireless network by disconnecting a cable under a wired network connection state. Here, the following items may be selectively set in the communication profile according to the communication environment used:</p><p>.Profile name</p><p>· Profile comments</p><p>·icon</p><p>Capture items (Internet settings; proxy settings, startup homepage, etc., devices; wired network devices, wireless network devices, infrared devices, etc., TCP/IP settings; DHCP, IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, DNS server, WINS server etc)</p><p>.Startup program after conversion</p><p>In addition, the communication control program 130 stores and manages the number of times of discovery of each communicable access point 20, and when the access point 20 is discovered, various information items related to the use of each discovered access point are displayed. and an application function (refer to Figs. 5 and 7) relating to a communication service to be displayed for a predetermined time in a display form according to the number of times of discovery of the corresponding access point 20 (characterized by the number of times of discovery). In this case, when the wireless LAN device 108 receives the beacon RB from the access point 20, the wireless LAN device 108 receives the beacon RB from the access point 20's identifier (BSSID/SSID). ) is obtained. Next, the wireless LAN device 108 registers the discovered access point 20 (which has received the beacon RB) in the database (DB) 31, and counts the number of times of discovery of each registered access point 20 Thus, the number of discoveries is managed on the database 31 . This database 31 is managed by the communication control program 130 on the HDD 106 . In addition, in the first embodiment of the present invention, when the access point 20 is discovered, the number of times of discovery of the discovered access point 20 is acquired from the database 31, and a specific character prepared in advance (an example is shown in Fig. 1). (shown in Fig. ) is characterized (by changing the size, color, etc. of the font) according to the number of times the access point is found and displayed on the display unit 32 for a predetermined time. Also, in the first embodiment, it is assumed that the communication control program 130 includes a processing routine for generating the specific character. The communication control program 130 including the application function related to this communication service can be treated as an individual program.</p><p>The host bridge 102 is a bridge device connected between the local bus of the CPU 101 and the local bus of the system controller 105 . The host bridge 102 has a built-in memory controller that controls access to the main memory 103 . The display controller 104 controls a display unit (DISP) 32 using, for example, an LCD used as a display monitor of the present computer.</p><p>The system controller 105 controls each device on the PCI bus and each device on the ISA bus. In addition, the system controller 105 also has a built-in IDE controller for controlling the HDD 106 . The HDD 106 stores a database (DB) 31 that realizes the application functions related to the communication service described above and is managed by the communication control program 130 .</p><p>The wired LAN device 107 is a wired network device for connecting the apparatus to a wired network. This wired LAN device 107 communicates with a wired network via a wired LAN cable connected to the LAN connector 106 .</p><p>The wireless LAN device 108 is a wireless network device for connecting the apparatus to a wireless network, and is composed of a baseband unit and an RF unit. The RF unit transmits and receives radio signals through an antenna (ANT) 109 . This wireless LAN device 108 is configured to perform wireless communication according to, for example, IEEE 802.11a/IEEE 802.11 standards. In this embodiment, when the wireless LAN device 108 receives the beacon RB transmitted from the access point 20, it notifies the CPU 101 to that effect.</p><p>The embedded controller/keyboard controller IC (EC/KBC) 111 is a one-chip microcomputer in which an embedded controller for power management and a keyboard controller for controlling the keyboard 13 are integrated. This embedded controller/keyboard controller IC (EC/KBC) 111 has a function of powering on/off the main computer according to operation of the power button by the user.</p><p>4 shows a configuration example of the database 31 managed by the communication control program 130 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The database according to the first embodiment is denoted by reference numeral 31(A). In the first embodiment, the identifier (SSID/BSSID) of the access point 20 discovered under the control of the CPU 101 and the number of times of its discovery (counter) are stored in the database 31 in association with each other, and the management number ( No.) is managed. In addition, although a specific character presenting the discovered access point 20 to the user is generated by software processing by the communication control program 130 as described above, a plurality of character data according to the number of times of discovery is stored in the main memory 103 in advance. ) or the HDD 106 may be stored.</p><p>5 shows a processing procedure in the first embodiment of application processing related to a communication service in the communication control program 130. As shown in FIG.</p><p>In the application processing related to the communication service in the first embodiment, the CPU 101 executes the application processing related to the communication service as shown in Fig. 5 included in the communication control program 130 at predetermined time intervals. do. In this process, the CPU 101 sends a notification that the wireless LAN device 108 has received a beacon RB transmitted from the access point 20 in a certain wireless LAN access area (eg, wireless LAN access area A). Upon receiving (step S11 in FIG. 5), the identifier (SSID/BSSID) of the discovered access point 20 is acquired from the beacon RB (step S12 in FIG. 5). If the identifier of the access point 20 is already registered in the database 31(A) shown in Fig. 4, the counter of the access point 20 is incremented to update the number of discoveries. On the other hand, if the identifier (SSID/BSSID) of the discovered access point 20 is not registered in the database 31(A), the identifier of the discovered access point 20 is stored in the database 31(A). register in In this case, the number of discovery "1" is set in the counter for counting the number of discovery (step S13 in Fig. 5).</p><p>Further, when the CPU 101 finds the access point 20, it characterizes a specific character, for example, as shown in Fig. 1, prepared in advance according to the count value of the database 31 (according to the number of times the access point is found). It is displayed on the screen of the display unit 32 for a predetermined time (step S14 in Fig. 5). For example, the size of the display character (eg, notification window) is changed in stages according to the number of times the access point is discovered. Alternatively, the display color of the display character is changed in stages according to the number of times the access point is found. Alternatively, different characters are prepared for each of a plurality of steps according to the number of times of discovery of the access point, and the character to be displayed is switched according to the number of times of discovery of the access point. In addition, this display character is defined as an operation icon, and setting switching to an optimal communication profile suitable for the current communication environment is supported in accordance with operation of the corresponding icon.</p><p>By having such a communication service-related application processing function, it is possible to provide the user with the current communication environment, various service information, etc. before network connection in each communication environment area normally used, and further, each wireless LAN access area It is also possible to provide unique information individually for each wireless LAN access area A, B, and C by changing the number of discoveries set for each A, B, and C. An example thereof is shown in Figs. 8A and 8B. In this example, a switch operation button is provided in the notification window, so that when the switch operation button is clicked, switching to the service provider's profile is started. Also, examples of providing different characters in stages according to the number of times of discovery of the access point 20 are shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B . FIG. 9A is an example of a case where service information is changed in stages according to the number of times of discovery of the access point 20 , and FIG. 9B is an example of a character that grows according to the number of times of discovery of the access point 20 .</p><p>Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figs. In this second embodiment, the personal computer 30 has a database 31 for realizing an application function related to a communication service for each of the communicable wireless LAN access areas A, B, C, or a specific wireless LAN access area. ) is downloaded in advance to a predetermined storage area via the communication network. Next, when the personal computer 30 discovers the access point 20 in the wireless LAN access area, it acquires information related to the access point 20 from the database 31 and stores the information in the access point. It is characterized according to the number of times found and displayed for a predetermined time. In this second embodiment, as shown in Fig. 6, in addition to the counter for counting the identifier (SSID/BSSID) and the number of discoveries in the database 31, a condition for setting what information is displayed under what conditions and Information is remembered in relation to each other. Specific examples and the like of these conditions will be described later.</p><p>Fig. 7 shows a procedure of application processing related to a communication service in the second embodiment of the present invention.</p><p>In the application processing related to the communication service in this second embodiment, the CPU 101 sends the wireless LAN device 108 from the access point 20 in a certain wireless LAN access area (eg, wireless LAN access area A). Upon receiving a notification that the beacon RB has been received (step S21 in Fig. 7), the identifier (SSID/BSSID) of the access point 20 discovered from the beacon RB is obtained (step S22 in Fig. 7). ). If the identifier of the access point 20 has already been registered in the database 31(B) shown in Fig. 6, the CPU 101 increments the number of discoveries of the access point 20 to the access point. The counter of (20) is updated (step S23 in Fig. 7). On the other hand, if the identifier (SSID/BSSID) of the discovered access point 20 is not registered in the database 31(B), the CPU 101 invalidates the discovered identifier of the access point 20. Alternatively, it is registered in the database 31(B) and the same service as in the first embodiment is performed.</p><p>In addition, when the CPU 101 discovers the access point 20, if the discovered access point 20 is registered in the database 31(B), the number of discoveries related to the access point 20, conditions , display information, and the like. Next, the CPU 101 compares the conditions (step S24 in Fig. 7), and if the conditions match, the corresponding display information is characterized according to the number of times it is found, and is displayed on the screen of the display unit 32 for a predetermined time period. is displayed (step S25 Yes in Fig. 7, step S26). For example, when a period is set (defined) in the condition, if the currently discovered access point 20 is within the set period, the corresponding display information on the database 31 (B) is characterized according to the number of times of discovery, and the display unit (32) is displayed on the screen. In addition, the information used for condition comparison at this time is performed using, for example, date information managed by the computer 30 . In addition, even when time zone, am/pm, week, day of the week, season, etc. are set as conditions, the above display is performed. In addition, when a service type, advertisement type, advertisement type, etc. according to the number of times of discovery are set in the condition, service information, advertisement information, advertisement information, etc. whose display form is changed according to the number of times of discovery in addition to the contents are displayed on the screen of the display unit 32 . can be displayed on the An example thereof is shown in Figs. 9A and 9B, respectively. 9A is an example of a case in which service information is changed in stages according to the number of times of discovery of the access point 20 , and FIG. 9B is an example of a character that grows according to the number of times of discovery of the access point 20 . The above-described information provision is an example, and it is possible to provide various types of information such as maintenance-related information and various types of guide information.</p><p>Further advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the present invention in its broad form is not limited to the specific details and representative devices set forth above. Accordingly, various modifications may be made within the scope of the general inventive concept defined by the following claims and their equivalents.</p>

<p>As described above, according to the present invention, when an access point is found, the type of the discovered access point can be easily identified and the user can be notified. In addition, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus that expands useful functions by recording and managing the discovered access points.</p>