1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network connection module and a network connection method thereof; more particularly, the present invention relates to a network connection module and a network connection method thereof for continuously keeping a connection to a node.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the technology develops, many kinds of wireless network applications are also developed well, and some wireless network applications are also applied to automatic connection method for the domestic appliances. A mesh network environment, for example using the CSRmesh™ technology of CSR company, is already disclosed in the prior art. The mesh network environment has some advantage, such as it has no distance limitation and it does not need the hub to achieve the object of home automation controlling. Via this technology, the user can use the portable electronic device to connect to and control the different domestic appliances with the node. However, this technology must keep the connection to the node which is considered to be the bridging point, which means that when the distance between the user and the bridging point is too far, the portable electronic device will break the connection to the node which is considered to be the bridging point, and try to connect to another node and set this node to be the bridging point. Therefore, the portable electronic device will be often connected to different node, which may easily cause the delay of the signal transmission.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a new network connection module and a network connection method thereof, to solve the disadvantage of the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a network connection module, for continuously keeping a connection to a node.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a network connection method applied to the abovementioned module.
To achieve the abovementioned object, the network connection module of the present invention is used for allowing the portable electronic device to connect to a node in a mesh network environment. The network connection module includes a searching module, a processing module and a connection establishing module. The searching module is used for searching a plurality of nodes. The processing module is electrically connected to the searching module, for determining whether there is a specific node in the plurality of nodes; if yes, setting the specific node as a bridging point; if not, setting a node with the strongest signal strength in the plurality of nodes as the bridge point. The connection establishing module is electrically connected to the processing module, used for broadcasting to the other of the plurality of nodes in the mesh network environment via the bridging point.
The network connection method of the present invention is used for allowing the portable electronic device to connect to a node in a mesh network environment. The method includes: searching a plurality of nodes; determining whether there is a specific node in the plurality of nodes; if yes, setting the specific node as a bridging point; if not, setting a node with the strongest signal strength in the plurality of nodes as the bridge point; and via the bridging point, broadcasting to the other of the plurality of nodes in the mesh network environment.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the accompanying drawings, which disclose several embodiments of the present invention. It is to be understood that the drawings are to be used for purposes of illustration only, and not as a definition of the invention.
Please refer to
The network connection module 10 of the present invention is used for allowing a portable electronic device 1 to connect to a node in a mesh network environment. The portable electronic device 1 can be a cellphone or a tablet computer. Each nodes, such as the nodes 51a to 51g shown in
The network connection module 10 includes a searching module 20, a processing module 30 and a connection establishing module 40. The searching module 20 is used for searching a plurality of nodes, wherein each nodes is corresponded to the different controlled devices. The processing module 30 is electronically connected to the searching module 20, and used for determining if there is a specific node in the plurality of nodes searched by the searching module 20. The specific node can be a wearable device or a positioning device, but the present invention is not limited to that design. If there is not any specific node, the processing module 30 will set a node with the strongest signal strength in the plurality of nodes to be the bridging point. If there is a specific node, the processing module 30 will set the specific node as a bridging point. The connection establishing module 40 is electrically connected to the processing module 30, and used for broadcasting the related signal to the other plurality of nodes via the bridging point in the mesh network environment.
Besides, if the processing module 30 further determines that there are a plurality of specific nodes in the plurality of nodes, it can set the specific node with the strongest signal strength to be the bridging point, or set the bridging point according to the predetermining hierarchy, but the present invention is not limited to that design. Therefore, if the processing module 30 finds the specific node, the path for transferring the signal will be fixed, and it will not be changed even if the portable electronic device 1 moves.
It is to be known that, the present embodiment is only used for showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention. To avoid the further description, all the possible changes and combinations will not be descripted in detail. However, for people having the ordinary skill in this art of the present invention, the abovementioned modules or units may not be necessary. To implement the present invention, the invention may also include other details module or unit of the prior art. Each modules or units may be reduced or changed based on the requirement, and other module or unit may be installed between any two modules.
Please refer to
First, performing Step 201: searching a plurality of nodes.
First, using the searching module 20 to search a plurality of nodes. Please refer to
Then performing Step 202: determining whether there is a specific node in the plurality of nodes.
Then the processing module 30 determines whether there is a specific node in the plurality of nodes searched by searching module 20.
If the processing module 30 determines that there is not any specific node in the plurality of nodes 51a to 51g, performing Step 203: setting a node with the strongest signal strength in the plurality of nodes as the bridging point.
As shown in
On the other hand, if the processing module 30 finds specific node 52, Step 204 is performing: setting the specific node as a bridging point.
As shown in
Besides, as shown in
Finally, performing Step 205: broadcasting to the other of the plurality of nodes in the mesh network environment via the bridging point.
In the previous steps, whether the processing module 30 chooses the node 51a, the specific node 52 or the first specific node 52a to be the bridging point, the connection establishing module 40 will finally broadcast the related signal to the other plurality of nodes 51b, 51c, 51d, 51e, 51f, 51g via the bridging point in the mesh network environment, allowing the portable electronic device 1 to control the nodes 51b to 51g and the controlled device. Because the final broadcast connecting and controlling for the other plurality of nodes 51b, 51c, 51d, 51e, 51f, 51g are already disclosed for people having the ordinary skill in this art of the present invention, there is no need for furthermore description.
It is to be known that, the step order of the network connection method of the present invention is not limited to the abovementioned description, and the abovementioned step order can be changed if the object of the present invention can be achieved.
Via the network connection module 10 and the network connection method of the present invention, the connection between the portable electronic device 1 and the node can be kept continuously, to reduce the re-connecting time.
It is noted that the above-mentioned embodiments are only for illustration. It is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents. Therefore, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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104111674 | Apr 2015 | TW | national |