Patent Application
20160150356
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-148536 filed on Jul. 17, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a communication device that performs communication with a terminal.
Some conventional communication devices for performing communication with a terminal such as a portable terminal and the like are configured to communicate with multiple terminals. Considering that multiple terminals are in a communication range of the communication device, it is proposed to permit the communication with the communication device in a descending order of priority levels pre-set to the terminals (see Patent Literature 1 for example).
Patent Literature 1: JP2010-130531A
The inventors of the present application have found out the following with regard to the communication device. In some cases, the communication device described in Patent Literature 1 performs the communication with a low priority level terminal when the terminal is in the communication range of the communication device. As a result, the communication between an intended communication device and an intended terminal cannot be performed.
For example, suppose that there are two communication devices A and B, the terminal A is given high priority for the communication device A, and the terminal B is given high priority for the communication device B. In this situation, the terminal A may perform communication with the communication device B when (a) the terminal A is in an overlap portion between the communication range of the communication device A and the communication range of the communication device B and the terminal B is not in the communication range of the communication device B or (b) the communication device B are communicable with two or more terminals. When the communication between the terminal A and the communication device B starts prior to start of the communication between the terminal A and the communication device A, as long as this communication is disconnected, the terminal A cannot perform the communication with the intended communication device A. Therefore, although the terminal A and the communication device A may become communicable finally, it may take a time to establish the communication.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present disclosure to provide a communication device that satisfactorily enables communication between an intended communication device and an intended terminal.
In order to achieve the above object, a communicator of a communication device has at least two communication ranges including a short communication range and a long communication range longer than the short communication range. A communication controller permits the communicator to perform communication with a terminal that is in the short communication range regardless of a priority level of the terminal in the short communication range, and permits the communicator to perform communication with a terminal that is in the long communication range and out of the short communication range when a priority level of the terminal in the long communication range and out of the short communication range is higher than a predetermined priority level.
Therefore, a terminal that is given a lower priority level than the predetermined priority level may not be able to perform the communication unless it is placed close to the communication device and in the short communication range in the present disclosure. It becomes possible for an intended communication device and an intended terminal to perform communication therebetween.
More specifically, for example, when communication between a low priority level terminal and the communication device is intended, one may take the terminal into the short communication range to enable the communication between the terminal and the communication device. Under another situation where there are two communication devices, when the communication between a first communication device and a terminal that is given high priority for the first communication device is intended for example, the terminal may be placed out of the short communication range of a second communication device to enable the communication between the first communication device and the terminal. In these ways, by referencing the position of the terminal using the respective communication ranges of the communication device, it becomes possible to satisfactorily perform communication between an intended communication device and an intended terminal.
In preference to the communication with a terminal that is in the long communication range and out of the short communication range, the communication controller may permit the communication with a terminal that is in the short communication range regardless of the priority level of this terminal. In this case, when a terminal with a lower priority level than the predetermined priority level is placed close to the communication device and placed in the short communication range, it becomes possible to satisfactorily perform the communication between the terminal and the communication device.
An embodiment will be described with the drawings.
As shown in
Occupants (not shown) of each vehicle 10 can get into the vehicle 10 with their terminals 20A, 20B, 20C, 20D which may include a multifunction portable phone (what is called a smartphone). In this case, the portable terminal 20 can perform communication with the communication device 14. This communication may be performed using a short range wireless communication such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi(each registered trademark) or the like in order to implement a function cooperating with the vehicle 10 such as audio streaming, handsfree call, data communication or the like. This communication may be used to implement a door lock/unlock function or the like.
The portable terminal 20A carried by an owner of the vehicle 10A is registered as a high priority level portable terminal in the communication device 14A of the vehicle 10A. The portable terminal 20B carried by an owner of the vehicle 10B is registered as a high priority level portable terminal in the communication device 14B of the vehicle 10B. The priorities (which is assumed as high or low for description but may be middle) of respective portable terminals 20 are stored as a table in a memory (not shown) of the ECU 15. Registration of the portable terminal 20 may be made with a unique ID used in Bluetooth.
As shown in
The transmission output switcher 63 switches over the output of the radio wave. Thereby, a communication range, which is a range where the antenna 16 and the portable terminal 20 is communicable, is switched over between two communication ranges which are a long communication range E1 and a short communication range E2 as schematically shown in
The wireless communicator controller 51 repeatedly performs the process illustrated in
When the priority level is high (S2: Y), the attempt to connect is made with the long communication range E1 at S3. At S4, it is determined whether or not the communication has succeeded. When the communication has succeeded (S4: Y), the process is ended. When the communication has failed (S4: N), the process proceeds to S2 again. At S2, it is determined whether or not a priority level of a portable terminal 20 targeted for a next connection attempt is a high level. After the attempt to connect the portable terminal 20 registered at the end on the table is made, the selection of the portable terminal 20 at S2 is made in a loop manner so that the portable terminal 20 registered in the first on the table is selected.
When it is determined at S2 that the priority level of the portable terminal 20 is not a high level (S2: N), the attempt to connect is made at S5 with the short communication range E2. At S6, it is determined whether or not the connection has succeeded. When the connection has succeeded (S6: Y), it is determined at S7 that this portable terminal 20 is a driver's portable terminal 20, and the process is ended. When the connection has not succeeded (S6: N), the process proceeds to S2 again.
When it is determined at S1 that the total number of portable terminals 20 already connected reaches the maximum number (S1: Y), the process proceeds to S8. At S8, it is determined whether or not among the already-connected portable terminals 20, there is the portable terminal 20 determines as the driver's one at S7. When there is the portable terminal 20 determines as the driver's one (S8: Y), the process is ended. When there is no portable terminal 20 determines as the driver's one (S8: N), the process proceeds to S9. At S9, the connection to the lowest priority level portable terminal 20 is disconnected, and then the process proceeds to S2. At S9, when multiple portable terminals 20 are equally the low priority level, arbitrarily-selected one of the multiple portable terminals 20 may be disconnected, or the last-connected one or oldest-connected one of the multiple portable terminals 20 may be disconnected.
In the present embodiment, the attempt to connect a high priority level portable terminal 20 is made using the long communication range E1 (S3), while the attempt to connect a low priority level portable terminal 20 is made using the short communication range E2 (S5). Therefore, the low priority level portable terminal 20 cannot perform the communication unless it is carried into the driver seat 11, and it becomes possible for an intended communication device 14 and a portable terminal 20 to satisfactorily perform communication therebetween.
For example, as shown in
In other words, although the portable terminal 20A and the communication device 14A may become communicable finally, it may take a time to establish the communication. Furthermore, if the portable terminals 20C and 20D each given a low priority level for the communication device 14A are connected to the communication device 14A prior to disconnecting the communication between the portable terminal 20A and the communication device 14B, the communication between the portable terminal 20A and the communication device 14A becomes more difficult provided that the above-described maximum total number is 2.
By contrast, in the present embodiment, because the attempt to connect the low priority level portable terminal 20 is made using the short communication range E2 (S5), the portable terminal 20A is not connected to the communication device 14B as long as the portable terminal 20 is out of the communication range E2 of the communication device 14B as shown in
Moreover, when a person carrying the portable terminal 20A which is given the low priority level for the communication device 14B gets into the driver seat 11 B of the vehicle 10B as a driver, this portable terminal 20A is inside the communication range E2 of the communication device 14B (S6: Y). Therefore, the low priority level portable terminal 20A carried by the driver is satisfactorily connected to the communication device 14B.
Additionally, in the above case, because it is determined that the portable terminal 20A is the driver's one (S7), this connection is maintained even if multiple portable terminals 20 given higher priority level for the communication device 14B than the portable terminal 20A are carried into the cabin of the vehicle 10B (S8: Y). Additionally, even if the total number of already-connected portable terminals 20 is the maximum number at a time when the driver gets into the vehicle (S1; Y), there is no driver's one among the already-connected ones (S8: N), and thus, the attempt to connect the driver's portable terminal 20 is made. Therefore, the present embodiment can satisfactorily connect the portable terminal 20 carried by the driver to the communication device 14 of the vehicle 10 which he or she intends to drive.
In the above way, the present embodiment satisfactorily enables communication between an intended communication device 14 and portable terminal 20 by referencing the position of the portable terminal 20 using the long communication range E1 and short communication range E2 of the communication device 14. Additionally, in the present embodiment, as shown in
Embodiments in the present disclosure are not limited to the above-illustrated embodiments and can have various forms. For example, while two communication ranges of the small communication range E2 and the large communication range E1 larger than the small communication range E2 are being employed, the portable terminals 20 may be connected according to priority level regardless of whether or not it is carried by the driver. This processing can be implemented by, for example, omitting S7 and S8 in
In this case, although the low priority level portable terminal 20 may be disconnected from the communication device 14 if it is carried by the driver, the high priority level portable terminal 20 can be surely connected to the communication device 14.
There are various ways of ranking the priority level, including ranking according to an order of past-connections from newest, according to a descending order of the total number of connections, according to user's setting, and the like. In these cases, the high priority level may read the priory level that is higher than or equal to a predetermined ranking. This predetermined ranking may be pre-designated or may be settable arbitrarily.
Furthermore, there are various modifications in the communication ranges E1, E2 of the embodiment. For example, the short communication range E2 may cover the driver seat 11 and the front passenger seat 12. Additionally, when the communication is used for the processes that instruct the lock and unlock of the door of the vehicle 10, the short communication range E2 may cover the surrounding of the vehicle 10 (e.g., an area within 1 meter from the periphery) and the long communication range E1 may cover an area within about 5 meters from the vehicle 10. In contrast, when the communication may be used for processes that used only inside the cabin of the vehicle 10, the communication ranges E1, E2 may be restricted to the vehicle cabin. Furthermore, three or more communication ranges may be prepared.
The process of
In the above embodiment, the output of the radio wave transmitted from the antenna 16 is switched over and thereby the communication range E1 and E2 is switched over. Alternatively, multiple antennas 16 having different communication ranges may be provided and an antenna 16 to be used may be switched over. For example, as shown in the block diagram of
In this case, the antenna 16 to be used is switched over by a switching operation of the antenna switch switcher 65 and the communication range E1 and E2 is switched over as is the case in the above embodiment. This provides the same operations and effects as the above embodiment. Additionally, because the switching over of the antenna 16 to be used enables the use of many antennas 16 in arbitrary combinations, the communication range can be switched over in more detailed manners.
In the above embodiments, the antenna 16 and the wireless communicator 60 correspond to a communicator (communication means), the portable terminal 20 corresponds to a terminal, and the controller 50 corresponds to a communication controller (communication control means). Additionally, technical ideas embodied in the above embodiments are applicable to communication devices in various fields other than the vehicle. For example, the same control is applicable to communications between a personal computer and a terminal such as a cellular phone, a mouse and the like.
Although embodiments and configurations in the present disclosure are illustrated above, embodiments and configurations in the present disclosure are limited to those illustrated above. For example, embodiments and configurations in the present disclosure cover those obtained by appropriately combining technical elements disclosed in different embodiments and configurations.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-148536 | Jul 2013 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2014/003659 | 7/10/2014 | WO | 00 |
