Communication device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016255673-A1
Application number	US-201415026682-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 23, 2014
Priority date	Oct 30, 2013
Publication date	Sep 1, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A storage part stores the history of a failure in connection to the other communication device. A searching part performs search for the other communication device. A connection availability determination part performs determination whether or not to connect to the other communication device found in the search on the basis of the history. A connection control part causes the searching part to perform the search again in a case where it is determined not to connect. On the other hand, in a case where it is determined to connect, the connection control part executes a connection process of connecting to the other communication device and, when the connection process fails, the connection control part performs update of the history and causes the searching part to perform the search again.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A communication device forming a communication network with another communication device, the communication device comprising:
a storage part configured to store a history of a failure in connection to the other communication device; a searching part configured to perform search for the other communication device existing therearound; a connection availability determination part configured to perform determination whether or not to connect to the other communication device on a basis of the history of the failure in connection to the other communication device found in the search; and a connection control part configured to: cause the searching part to perform the search again when it is determined not to connect to the other communication device; while execute a connection process of connecting to the other communication device when it is determined to connect to the other communication device; and when the connection process fails, perform update of the history of the failure in connection to the other communication device and cause the searching part to perform the search again.

2 . The communication device according to claim 1 , wherein the searching part is configured to, in order to search for the other communication device, broadcast a probe request and receive a probe response to the probe request, thereby finding the other communication device.

3 . The communication device according to claim 2 , wherein the connection control part is configured to, when a plurality of other communication devices return probe responses to the probe request, determine as a connection destination the other communication device first returning the probe response among the communication devices determined to be connectable by the connection availability determination part.

4 . The communication device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the history includes identification information of the other communication device and a numerical value; the connection availability determination part is configured to in the determination: compare with a threshold the numerical value included by the history including the identification information coinciding with identification information of the other communication device found in the search; and only in a case where a magnitude relation between the numerical value and the threshold satisfies a predetermined condition, determine to connect to the other communication device; and the connection control part is configured to, in the update of the history, add or subtract a given value to or from the numerical value included by the history including the identification information coinciding with identification information of the other communication device failing in the connection process.

5 . The communication device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the history includes identification information of the other communication device, a numerical value, and time information representing time of last update of said history; the connection control part is configured to, in the update of the history, add or subtract a given value to or from the numerical value included by the history including the identification information coinciding with identification information of the other communication device failing in the connection process, and update the time information; and the connection availability determination part is configured to in the determination: compare with a threshold the numerical value included by the history including the identification information coinciding with identification information of the other communication device found in the search; determine whether or not the time information included by the history represents time a given time or more earlier than current time; and only in a case where a magnitude relation between the numerical value and the threshold satisfies a predetermined condition or in a case where the time information included by the history represents time the given time or more earlier than current time though the predetermined condition is not satisfied, determine to connect to the other communication device.

6 . The communication device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the history includes identification information of the other communication device, a numerical value, and a number of times that said other communication device is found in the search; the connection control part is configured to, in the update of the history, add or subtract a given value to or from the numerical value included by the history including the identification information coinciding with identification information of the other communication device failing in the connection process, and update the number of times; and the connection availability determination part is configured to in the determination: compare with a threshold the numerical value included by the history including the identification information coinciding with identification information of the other communication device found in the search; determine whether or not the number of times included by the history is a given number of times or more; and only in a case where a magnitude relation between the numerical value and the threshold satisfies a predetermined condition or in a case where the number of times included by the history is the given number of times or more though the predetermined condition is not satisfied, determine to connect to the other communication device.

7 . The communication device according to claim 4 , wherein:
the storage part is configured to store a value corresponding to a cause of a failure of the connection process; and the connection control part is configured to, in the update of the history, add or subtract the value corresponding to the cause of the failure of the connection process to or from the numerical value included by the history including the identification information coinciding with identification information of the other communication device failing in said connection process.

8 . The communication device according to claim 1 , wherein the connection availability determination part is configured to check whether or not the history of the other communication device found in the search exists in the storage part and, in a case where said history does not exist, newly store the history for the found other communication device into the storage part.

9 . The communication device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the history stored in the storage part includes identification information of the other communication device to which the local communication device has failed to connect in the most recent connection process, and a number of times that the other communication device identified by said identification information has successively failed in the connection process; the connection control part is configured to set the number of times in the history to an initial value when the connection process succeeds and, in the update of the history, record identification information of the other communication device failing in the connection process into the history and increments the number of times; and the connection availability determination part is configured to in the determination whether or not to be connectable: set the number of times to the initial value and determine to be connectable in a case where identification information of the other communication device found in the search and the identification information stored in the history do not coincide; whereas in a case where the identification information coincide, determine to be connectable when the number of times in the history is not more than a threshold, otherwise determine to be unconnectable.

Assignees

• Nec Corp

Inventors

• Yasuda Masato
• Fujita Norihito

Classifications

• H04W76/027 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W76/023

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/008

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title