JP2011022650A - Wireless terminal and terminal management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To specify the location of a terminal which has made a request even when each terminal and a server transmit data by wireless communication in a terminal management system in which the server manages the plurality of terminals. <P>SOLUTION: The internal memories of terminals 103a to 103c and RFID tags 104a to 104c attached to the terminals 103a to 103c are recorded with the same ID numbers so that the addresses for communication of the terminals 103a to 103c received from a wireless base station 101 by a communication server 100 and the ID numbers recorded in the internal memories and the physical positions of the terminals 103a to 103c obtained from the detection of a space distance by the tag readers 102a to 102c and the ID numbers recorded in the RFID tags 104a to 104c are associated with seat layout information 105, and the position of the terminal which has made a request is specified. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless terminal and a terminal management system. Specifically, the present invention relates to a wireless terminal and a terminal management system in an environment where a large number of wireless terminals are installed such as an aircraft and a stadium.

  In recent years, in an environment where a large number of seats are installed such as aircraft, trains, and stadiums, there is a system in which a terminal is installed in each seat so that audiences and passengers can receive distribution services such as movies and music via the terminal. It is popular.

  Among them, an entertainment system in which a terminal is installed in each seat in an aircraft so that passengers can enjoy movies and video games is widely used. In this entertainment system, communication servers for distributing content and managing terminals and seat terminals are connected by a wired network such as Ethernet (registered trademark).

  As a service that the system enables, when a passenger makes a request using a terminal, the position of the passenger is specified, and the service is performed for the requesting passenger, an example is Some passengers call an attendant (crew) or turn on a reading light by operating the buttons on the seat.

  Hereinafter, a service for turning on the reading lamp will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a conventional terminal management system, in which a part of a cabin in an aircraft in which seats are arranged is viewed from the side, 100 is a communication server, 103a to 103c are terminals installed in the seat, 106a Reference numerals 106c to 107c are reading lamps, 107a to 107c are seats, 108 is a range illuminated by the reading lamp 106b, and 400a to 400c are switches connected between the communication server 100 and the terminals 103a to 103c.

  In the system configured as described above, for example, a passenger of the seat 107b uses a touch panel (not shown) installed on the terminal 103a of the front seat 107a or a controller (not shown) installed on the seat 107b. When lighting of the reading lamp is requested, the IP address / seat number / request content of the terminal 103a is transmitted from the terminal 103a to the communication server 100 via the switch 400a, and the communication server 100 supports the seat 107b based on the received content. The reading lamp 106b is turned on, and the reading lamp 106b illuminates a limited area as the spotlight 108 with respect to the seat 107b.

  In such a service that requires identification of the position of the passenger, in order to perform the service for the requesting passenger, it is necessary to specify the seat number of the passenger, but the seat number is recorded in the terminal in advance. In this case, it is necessary to set seat numbers for all terminals at the time of installation, which requires a lot of labor and may cause human error, which is difficult to implement.

  On the other hand, since each terminal is connected to the communication server via the network, the communication server can determine the IP address of the terminal that has made the request. Accordingly, it is only necessary that the IP address and seat number of each seat terminal can be associated on the communication server side.

  Table 2 shows an example of the correspondence between the IP address and seat number of each seat terminal.

  In the wired network system shown in FIG. 6, the communication server 100 associates the seat number of each terminal with the IP address, and communicates the IP address to each terminal by the following method in order to identify the location of the requested terminal. Allocate from server 100 and create and use Table 2.

  First, the switches 400a to 400c acquire the MAC (Media Access Control) addresses of their own front and rear switches, and transmit the MAC addresses together with their own MAC addresses to the communication server 100 (for example, the switch 400b has its own MAC address and the front and rear switches). 400a and 400c MAC addresses are transmitted). The communication server 100 grasps the arrangement order of the switches 400a to 400c based on the MAC addresses received from the switches 400a to 400c, and assigns IP addresses in order. At this time, the communication server 100 passes the IP addresses of the terminals 103a to 103c to the respective switches 400a to 400c to which the terminals 103a to 103c are connected, and the switches 400a to 400c pass to the terminals 103a to 103c connected thereto. Assign IP addresses in the order of connection. Since the switches 400a to 400c hold in advance the seat numbers where the terminals 103a to 103c connected to the switches 400a to 400c are installed, the seat numbers and the IPs of the terminals 103a to 103c as shown in Table 2 by the above method. An address is associated.

  However, since the above-mentioned wired network system requires a large amount of cables, a system using a wireless network is being studied in order to reduce the weight of aircraft in which weight is a problem.

  Conventionally, as a wireless system that can specify the position of a terminal, there is a wireless system that uses non-contact data reading / writing and position detection using a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, which is a well-known technology. There was one described in 1. The electronic information management system described in Patent Document 1 shows a conventional wireless communication system.

  An RFID tag is a small wireless IC chip with a shape such as a label that can be easily attached. Information such as its own identification code is recorded, and it has the ability to transmit and receive information to and from a management system using radio waves. By non-contact power transmission technology from, it can be used semi-permanently without a battery.

  Below, the structure of the electronic information management system described in patent document 1 is demonstrated using FIG. The electronic information management system includes a file server 701 that manages electronic information, a client 702 that acquires electronic information from the file server 701, a wireless tag reader 703a and a wireless tag 703b that detect position information of the client 702, a wireless tag reader 703a, And a position authentication unit 704 that authenticates the position of the client 702 from the position information detected by the wireless tag 703b and changes the access right of the client 702.

  The server 701, the client 702, and the wireless tag reader 703a are connected via a network, and the wireless tag reader 703a and the wireless tag 703b are connected by wireless communication.

  A mechanism that grants file access permission to the user when the unique ID of the tag that the wireless tag reader 703a detects from the wireless tag 703b and transmits to the server 701 matches the unique ID of the tag that the client 702 transmits to the server 701. , File access permission can be given only to the client 702 at a certain distance from the server 701.

JP 2005-267353 A

  However, the configuration of Patent Document 1 causes the following problems.

  First, the server 701 cannot grasp the detailed position of the client 702 and can only obtain information about whether or not the position of the client 702 is within a certain range centered on the server 701.

  Second, when the server 701 receives a request from the client 702, the server 701 cannot specify which client 702 has received the request, and whether the client 702 that has received the request satisfies the conditions for file access. Only the judgment is made.

  Third, if the client 702 is not in a power-on state, data cannot be exchanged. If the client 702 cannot be turned on for some reason, the server 701 stores information recorded in the memory inside the terminal. Can not get.

  An object of the present invention is to identify the detailed location of a requested terminal by associating the physical location of the terminal with a communication address even in a configuration in which each terminal and server transmit data by wireless communication.

  Another object of the present invention is to realize a configuration in which log information can be written and read using the associated information even when the terminal is not turned on.

  The terminal management system of the present invention includes a communication server, a plurality of wireless terminals, a wireless base station that is connected to the communication server and communicates with the plurality of wireless terminals, and a communication server that reads the ID number of the RFID tag. And a plurality of tag readers having a function of detecting a spatial distance from the RFID tag, and the wireless terminal is an RFID tag assigned a unique ID number and a wireless communication interface assigned a unique communication address And a non-volatile memory in which the same ID number as the ID number of the RFID tag is stored, and the wireless terminal stores in the non-volatile memory together with a communication address to the communication server via wireless communication with the wireless base station The tag reader transmits the spatial distance to the RFID tag and the ID number of the RFID tag to the communication server, and the communication server Correlating the communication address and the physical location of the wireless terminal associated with the same ID number.

  With the above configuration, the communication server acquires the communication address of the terminal and the ID number recorded in the nonvolatile memory via the wireless base station, and records the physical position of the wireless terminal and the RFID tag via the wireless tag reader. The acquired ID number can be acquired, and the physical position of the wireless terminal can be associated with the communication address using the same ID number.

  Further, by using the associated information, the communication server writes information to the RFID tag via the tag reader / writer, so that the information can be read even when the terminal is not turned on.

  As described above, according to the wireless terminal and the terminal management system of the present invention, the physical position of each wireless terminal can be associated with the communication address even in wireless communication, and the communication server specifies the target terminal position. can do. In addition, since information can be transmitted from each wireless terminal to the communication server by wireless communication, wiring is not necessary, and weight and cost can be reduced. Furthermore, even when the wireless terminal is not turned on, the communication server can read information about the wireless terminal from the RFID tag, which leads to the efficiency of maintenance work and is effective in dealing with failures. is there.

Configuration diagram of a terminal management system in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Configuration diagram of terminal in the first embodiment Explanatory drawing of seat layout information in the aircraft in the first embodiment The figure which shows matching with the coordinate and seat number which used the seat layout information in Embodiment 1 Configuration diagram of a terminal management system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention Configuration diagram of a conventional terminal management system Configuration diagram of a conventional electronic information management system

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a terminal management system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and is a view of a part of a cabin in an aircraft in which seats are arranged as viewed from the side. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of terminals arranged in each seat, and FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining seat layout information in the aircraft, and is a plan view of the cabin as viewed from above. In each figure, the same number as the conventional example in FIG.

  In the present embodiment, the terminal management system will be described as a management system for terminals installed in the seats 107a to 107c in the aircraft 300 as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the seats of the three seats from the top of the seats in the cabin in the aircraft in FIG. 3 (portions surrounded by circles in FIG. 3). In FIG. 1, 100 is a communication server, 101 is a radio base station (access point), 102a to 102c are tag readers, 103a to 103c are terminals installed in seats, and 104a to 104c are installed in terminals 103a to 103c, respectively. RFID tags, 105 is seat layout information, 106a to 106c are reading lights, and 107a to 107c are seats in the aircraft.

  The communication server 100 has layout information 105 of seats in the aircraft, is connected to the radio base station 101, the tag readers 102a to 102c, and the reading lights 106a to 106c, and communicates with the terminals 103a to 103c via the radio base station 101. To communicate with the RFID tags 104a to 104c via the tag readers 102a to 102c.

  The wireless base station 101 is connected to the communication server 100 and performs wireless communication with the terminals 103a to 103c.

  A plurality of tag readers 102a to 102c are arranged at predetermined intervals in the cabin, and the spatial distance of the RFID tags 104a to 104c attached to the terminals 103a to 103c is detected using the plurality of tag readers 102a to 102c, and the RFID tag 104a is detected. To the communication server 100 together with the ID number read from ~ 104c.

  The communication server 100 calculates the physical positions (coordinates) of the RFID tags 104a to 104c on the XY plane of FIG. 3 based on the spatial distances sent from the plurality of tag readers 102a to 102c, such as triangulation. Calculated by

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a seat layout in an aircraft, where numbers correspond to column numbers and alphabets correspond to row numbers. The seat arrangement of the aircraft cabin is mainly as shown in FIG. 3, numbers and alphabets are assigned to the columns and rows, and the seat number of the seat 107a is represented as “1-A”.

  The terminals 103a to 103c will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a detailed configuration diagram of the terminals 103a to 103c in FIG. In FIG. 2, 103 is an enlarged view of the terminals 103a to 103c of FIG. 104 is an enlarged view of the RFID tags 104 a to 104 c in FIG. 1 and is attached to the outside of the terminal 103. Reference numeral 200 denotes a nonvolatile memory inside the terminal, 201 denotes a wireless communication interface, and the ID number recorded in the RFID tag 104 and the ID number recorded in the nonvolatile memory 200 are the same number.

  The most important point of the present invention is to assign the same ID number to the nonvolatile memory 200 in the terminal 103 and the attached RFID tag 104 as shown in FIG. For example, the same ID number “1395” is recorded in the nonvolatile memory 200 in the terminal 103 and the RFID tag 104 attached to the terminal 103 at the time of factory shipment.

  Thus, by assigning the same ID number to the terminal 103 and the RFID tag 104, the communication server 100 in FIG. 1 allows the ID number recorded in the non-volatile memory 200 and the terminal via the wireless base station 101. When receiving the IP address of 103 and further receiving the ID number recorded on the RFID tag 104 and the coordinates of the terminal 103 from the tag readers 102a to 102c, the communication server 100 acquires the same ID number from the two routes. It is possible to associate the IP addresses of the terminals 103a to 103c with the physical positions of the terminals 103a to 103c.

  Note that the same ID number is only one set of the ID number recorded on the RFID tag 104 attached to one terminal 103 and the ID number recorded on the nonvolatile memory 200, and there are others. do not do.

  The seat layout information 105 is a database held by the communication server 100, and has information on the arrangement order of seat numbers and the positional relationship of front, rear, left and right, and corresponds to the seat arrangement in FIG. 3 and 105 in FIG.

  The communication server 100 calculates all the coordinates of the RFID tags 104a to 104c from the spatial distances detected by the tag readers 102a to 102c, obtains the relative positions, and collates with the seat layout information 105, whereby the seat where the terminals 103a to 103c are installed. Specify the number.

  Table 1 shows a part of the seat layout information 105.

  The operation of the entire terminal management system of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described below using the terminal 103a as an example.

  First, the terminal 103 a requests an IP address from the communication server 100 via the radio base station 101, and the communication server 100 assigns an IP address “192.168.0.101” to each terminal 103 a via the radio base station 101. Assign.

  Next, the terminal 103 a transmits the combination of the ID number “1395” and the IP address “192.168.0.101” recorded in the nonvolatile memory of the terminal 103 a to the communication server 100 via the wireless base station 101. The right side 601 of Table 1 is information that the terminals 103a to 103c transmit to the communication server 100 via the wireless base station 101, and is a combination of the IP address of each terminal and the ID number recorded in the nonvolatile memory.

  On the other hand, three tag readers 102a to 102c detect the respective spatial distances with the RFID tag 104a, and transmit them to the communication server 100 together with the ID number “1395” recorded on the RFID tag 104a.

  The communication server 100 performs triangulation using the spatial distance sent from the tag readers 102a to 102c, thereby performing the coordinates of the RFID tag 104a (the coordinates of the terminal 103a) on the XY plane represented by the coordinate axis 301 of FIG. ) X: 1.2 and Y: 1.2 are calculated.

  The left side 600 of Table 1 is a combination of the coordinates and ID number of each terminal obtained from information transmitted from the tag readers 102a to 102c to the communication server 100.

  By repeating the above operation, the communication server 100 obtains the IP addresses of all terminals, the ID number recorded in the nonvolatile memory, the XY coordinates, and the ID number recorded in the RFID tag. Here, the correspondence between coordinates and seat numbers will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 shows the association between the XY coordinates of all terminals and the layout information 105. The layout information 105 is used to associate the XY coordinates and seat numbers of all terminals. For example, the seat number “1-A” is assigned to the terminal 103a from the coordinates X: 1.2 and Y: 1.2. Note that the coordinate numerical value “1.2” or the like is obtained by quantifying the physical distance based on the relative positional relationship in the XY coordinates, not the physical distance itself.

  Finally, “the seat number 1-A of the terminal 103a and the ID number“ 1395 ”read from the RFID tag 104a”, which is information obtained by the communication server 100 via the tag readers 102a to 102c, and the radio base station 101 By associating the received combination of the two information “IP address of the terminal 103a“ 192.168.0.101 ”and ID number“ 1395 ”recorded in the non-volatile memory” with the same ID number, the terminal 103a Can be mapped in association with the IP address '192.168.0.101' of the user and the seat number “1-A” of the terminal 103a.

  Table 1 is a table that the communication server 100 finally creates by combining the information 600 obtained via the tag readers 102a to 102c and the information 601 received from the terminals 103a to 103c via the wireless base station 101. By using Table 1, it can be seen that the communication server 100 is of the terminal 103a in which the IP address “192.168.0.101” is installed at the seat number 1-A.

  By performing the above operation for the other terminals 103b and 103c, the seat numbers and IP addresses of all the terminals can be associated with each other.

  According to the present embodiment, the communication server 100 can associate the seat numbers of the terminals 103a to 103c with the IP addresses even in wireless communication, so that a certain passenger calls the attendant or reads the reading lamps 106a to 106a using the terminals 103a to 103c. When the lighting of 106c is performed, the communication server 100 associates the IP address received from the terminals 103a to 103c with the seat number by the above method, so that the seat number of the requesting passenger is grasped, and the attendant On the other hand, services such as lighting of reading lights can be performed individually.

  Although the present embodiment has been described as a management system for terminals installed in each seat in an aircraft, the present invention can also be applied to other systems in which a server manages terminals in wireless communication.

  Further, as the position detection method of the RFID tag 104a, the triangulation from the spatial distance detection by the tag readers 102a to 102c has been described as an example, but other position detection methods may be used.

(Embodiment 2)
In the first embodiment of the present invention, the communication server 100 associates the seat numbers and IP addresses of the terminals 103a to 103c. In the second embodiment, FIG. 4 is used for the maintenance method of the terminals 103a to 103c using the information. An example of the terminal 103a will be described below.

  In the present embodiment, the difference from the first embodiment is that, in the first embodiment, the tag readers 102a to 102c have the position detection function and the data reading function of the RFID tags 104a to 104c. Then, in addition, it is replaced with tag reader / writers 500a to 500c having a function of writing data to the RFID tags 104a to 104c.

  In the second embodiment, after the communication server 100 associates the seat number “1-A” in which the terminal 103a is installed with the IP address “192.168.0.101”, the communication server 100 wirelessly transmits from the terminal 103a. Log information (start / stop time, start time, past error log, etc.) received via the base station 101 and written to the RFID tag 104a via the tag reader / writer 500a as needed. Since the terminal 103a transmits the IP address “192.168.0.101” together with the log information to the communication server 100, the communication server 100 uses the ID number “1395” in Table 1 in the first embodiment. The seat number “1-A” of 103a can be specified, and log information can be written to the RFID tag 104a of the seat number “1-A”.

  With the above method, even if the terminal 103a fails for some reason and cannot be turned on, the communication server 100 can read the log information from the RFID tag 104a and use it effectively for maintenance.

  By performing the above operation for the other terminals 103b, 103c, etc., the communication server 100 reads and writes log information for all the terminals 103a-103c even when the terminals 103a-103c are not powered on. be able to.

  Although the present embodiment has been described as a maintenance method for wireless terminals installed in each seat in an aircraft, the present invention can also be applied to other systems in which a server exchanges data with wireless terminals in wireless communication. .

  In the wireless communication terminal management system according to the present invention, even in wireless communication that does not require wiring, the server manages the physical position of each wireless terminal in association with the communication address, and determines the position of the requested wireless terminal. Can be identified. In addition, it is possible to read the log information of the wireless terminal even when the wireless terminal is not turned on, and it is effective for dealing with failure, so aircraft cabins where wireless terminals are installed in each seat, Useful in environments such as offices and school computer rooms.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Communication server 101 Wireless base station 102a-102c Tag reader 103a-103c Terminal 104a-104c RFID tag 105 Seat layout information 106a-106c Reading light 107a-107c Seat 108 Spotlight 200 Non-volatile memory 201 Wireless communication interface 300 Aircraft 301 Coordinate axis 400a- 400c Switch 500a to 500c Tag reader / writer 600 Information received by communication server from tag reader 601 Information received by communication server from terminal

Claims (6)

An RFID tag assigned a unique ID number that can be read wirelessly;
A wireless communication interface assigned with a unique communication address;
A wireless terminal comprising: a nonvolatile memory storing an ID number identical to the ID number of the RFID tag. A communication server;
Multiple wireless terminals,
A radio base station connected to the communication server and communicating with the plurality of radio terminals;
A plurality of tag readers connected to the communication server and having a function of reading an ID number of an RFID tag and a function of detecting a spatial distance from the RFID tag;
In a terminal management system equipped with
The wireless terminal includes an RFID tag to which a unique ID number is assigned, a wireless communication interface to which a unique communication address is assigned, and a nonvolatile memory in which an ID number identical to the ID number of the RFID tag is stored. Comprising
The wireless terminal transmits the ID number stored in the nonvolatile memory together with the communication address to the communication server via wireless communication with the wireless base station,
The tag reader transmits a spatial distance to the RFID tag and an ID number of the RFID tag to the communication server,
The terminal management system, wherein the communication server associates a physical position of the wireless terminal associated with the same ID number with the communication address. A communication server;
Multiple wireless terminals,
A radio base station connected to the communication server and communicating with the plurality of radio terminals;
A plurality of tag reader / writers connected to the communication server and having an RFID tag ID number reading function, an information writing function to the RFID tag, and a spatial distance detection function with the RFID tag;
In a terminal management system equipped with
The wireless terminal includes an RFID tag to which a unique ID number is assigned, a wireless communication interface to which a unique communication address is assigned, and a nonvolatile memory in which an ID number identical to the ID number of the RFID tag is stored. And
The wireless terminal transmits the ID number stored in the nonvolatile memory together with the communication address to the communication server via wireless communication with the wireless base station,
The tag reader / writer transmits a spatial distance to the RFID tag and an ID number of the RFID tag to the communication server,
The communication server associates the physical location of the wireless terminal associated with the same ID number with the communication address,
The terminal management system, wherein the tag reader / writer reads / writes information related to the wireless terminal to / from the RFID tag based on information associated with the communication server. A plurality of seats arranged in a predetermined area;
A plurality of seat terminals installed in each of the plurality of seats and assigned an IP address and a terminal ID;
A management server that has layout information of the plurality of seats in the area and manages the plurality of seat terminals;
An access point connected to the management server and performing wireless communication with the plurality of seat terminals;
An RFID tag attached to each of the plurality of seat terminals;
A plurality of ID readers for reading the tag ID of the RFID tag,
The IP address and terminal ID assigned to the plurality of seat terminals are transmitted to the management server via a network, and the tag ID and distance information of the wireless ID tag detected by the plurality of tag readers are transmitted via the access point. A terminal management system in which the management server manages the physical position information of the seat terminal in association with the IP address based on the layout information by transmitting to the management server. The terminal management system according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the management server obtains physical position information of the seat terminal using distance information from the plurality of tag readers. The terminal management system according to claim 5, wherein the management server calculates the physical position information of the seat terminal by a triangulation position calculation method using distance information from the plurality of tag readers.

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