KR100680497B1 - How a terminal connects to an access point in a local area communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention allows a terminal to be authenticated for access to all APs in a group using a PIN code of one AP among a plurality of APs included in a local area communication system forming one group.

According to the present invention, when a terminal authenticates and accesses a first AP with a PIN code of a first AP, all second APs in the group share access information of the terminal indicating that the terminal authenticates and accesses the first AP. When the terminal accesses the second AP, the PIN code of the first AP is transmitted to the second AP, and the second AP authenticates the terminal with the access information of the shared terminal to permit access. Therefore, according to the present invention, after accessing the AP with one of the PIN codes among the plurality of APs in the group, the present invention can access all the APs in the group and receive a predetermined service.

Near field communication, Bluetooth, authentication, PIN code,

Description

Method for connecting a terminal to access point in short-range communication system}

1 is a signal flow diagram showing a conventional connection method.

2 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional connection method.

3 is a block diagram of a short-range communication system to which the access method of the present invention is applied.

4 is a signal flow diagram showing an embodiment of a connection method of the present invention.

5 is a schematic view showing a connection method of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a method in which a terminal connects to an access point in a short-range communication system that allows the terminal to connect to a plurality of access points (hereinafter, abbreviated as 'AP') provided in the short-range communication system. It is about.

With the development of communication technology, various near field communication technologies have been developed to perform wireless communication in the near field. One of the short range communication technologies is known as Bluetooth. The Bluetooth continues to evolve since version 1.0 was released as an official standard in July 1999. Bluetooth has a maximum data rate of 1Mbps (the effective transmission rate considering packet headers is 433.9kbps in both directions, 723.2kbps in one direction, and 57.6kbps in the other). The transmission distance is within 10m when the transmission power is 1㎽, and the maximum transmission power is specified as 100㎽.

In addition, Bluetooth sets 79 channels with 1MHz bandwidth in 2.4000∼2.4835㎓ ISM (Industrial Scientific Medical) band that user can use unlicensed, and uses frequency hopping spread spectrum in 1600 seconds The data is transmitted by changing the channel about once.

As Bluetooth uses a frequency hopping method, data can be transmitted accurately even in a noisy wireless environment, and frequency interference is avoided by transmitting and receiving a predetermined packet and hoping at a frequency of a new channel.

Therefore, Bluetooth communication hops faster than other systems operating in the same frequency band and can transmit data more stably using shorter packets.

In addition to the above-mentioned Bluetooth, various short-range communication technologies are known, including Zigbee, Ultra Wide Band (UWB), and wireless local area network (LAN).

As the near field communication technology is installed in a terminal such as a mobile communication terminal, the mobile communication terminal and the AP providing a predetermined service can perform a short range communication with each other to receive a predetermined service provided by the AP. . For example, an AP installed in each home or office is provided with a wired telephone network connection function as an application, and the mobile communication terminal performs local area communication with the AP, so that the user can make a telephone call through the AP with the mobile terminal. Can provide services.

Basically, short-range communication is intended to replace wired by wireless, and the field of short-range communication is very wide, and it is expected that the range of the field will be continuously expanded in the future.

Meanwhile, a short-range communication system for providing a predetermined service to a terminal by forming a group with a plurality of APs has been developed and used. The short range communication system includes a management system (hereinafter, abbreviated as 'MS'), and connects one management system and a plurality of APs through a local area network (LAN) to manage a plurality of management systems. It is configured to manage the AP.

In such a short-range communication system, when a terminal accesses a plurality of APs in short-range communication and receives a predetermined service, the terminal has to acquire all the personal identification numbers (PINs) of the plurality of APs.

This conventional technique will be described in detail with reference to the drawings of FIG. 1.

1 is a signal flow diagram illustrating a conventional connection method in which a terminal accesses a plurality of APs in a short-range communication system, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram. As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal and the first AP perform an inquiry and an inquiry scan to search for the first AP. That is, the terminal performs an inquiry, and the first AP located in the communication area of the terminal performs an inquiry scan to search for the first AP.

If the terminal performs an inquiry and the first AP searches, the terminal requests access to the first AP in step S102. Then, the first AP performs an authentication procedure in step S104.

In the authentication procedure, the first AP requests a PIN code from the terminal, and the terminal transmits the PIN code of the first AP to the first AP according to the request of the PIN code. Then, the first AP compares its PIN code with the PIN code transmitted by the terminal, and when the comparison result is the same, the first AP determines that the terminal is an authenticated terminal. That is, the first AP determines that the terminal is a terminal authorized to access the terminal.

When authentication is completed in step S104, the first AP grants access to the terminal in step S106. In a next step S108, the first AP updates the MS's location information indicating that it is connected with the terminal, and in step S110, the first AP and the terminal exchange service data with each other to provide a service.

In the next step S112, the first AP and the terminal terminate the connection. In the next step S114, the first AP updates the MS with location information of the terminal indicating that the first AP has terminated the connection with the terminal.

As described above, when the terminal accesses the second AP while the terminal and the first AP are disconnected, the terminal searches for the second AP by performing an inquiries and inquiries with the terminal in step S116.

If the second AP is found, the terminal requests access to the second AP in step S118. Then, the second AP performs an authentication procedure of the terminal in step S120. In the authentication procedure, the second AP requests a PIN code from the terminal, and the terminal transmits the PIN code of the second AP to the second AP according to the request of the PIN code. Then, the second AP compares its PIN code with the PIN code transmitted by the terminal, and when the comparison result is the same, the second AP determines that the terminal is an authenticated terminal. That is, the second AP determines that the terminal is a terminal authorized to access the terminal.

When the authentication is completed in the step S120, the second AP grants access to the terminal in step S122, and the location information of the terminal indicating that the terminal is connected to the second AP in step S124 is the second AP. After updating to the MS, in step S126, the first AP and the terminal exchange service data with each other to provide a service.

However, according to the related art, whenever a terminal accesses a plurality of APs provided in a short-range communication system in which one MS manages a plurality of APs to form a group, authentication procedures are performed using PIN codes assigned to the plurality of APs. It had to be done. That is, conventionally, when accessing the first AP, the authentication procedure is performed using the PIN code of the first AP, and when accessing the second AP, the authentication procedure is performed using the PIN code of the second AP.

Therefore, when the user of the terminal accesses a plurality of APs provided in the local area communication system, there is a problem that all of the PIN codes of the plurality of APs must be known.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a method for a terminal to access an access point in a local area communication system capable of accessing all of the plurality of APs using a PIN code of any one of a plurality of APs provided in the local area communication system. have.

In the short-range communication system of the present invention having the above object, a method of accessing a terminal to an access point is performed when the terminal requests access to a first access point (AP) in a short-range communication system in which a plurality of APs are grouped. Authenticates the access of the terminal with the PIN code of the first AP, and when the access of the terminal is authenticated, the first AP transmits the access information of the terminal to a management system (MS) to share the plurality of APs in the group. The second AP authenticates the access of the terminal with a PIN code of the first AP when requesting access to the second AP.

Update the location information of the terminal to the MS when the connection of the terminal is authenticated, and transmit the list of APs in the group to the terminal through the AP when the location information of the terminal is updated; It features.

Before the terminal requests access to the first and second APs, the terminal performs an inquiries, and the first and second APs perform an inquiries scan to search for the first and second APs. .

The first AP authenticates the access of the terminal by the first AP requesting the terminal to transmit a PIN code, the terminal transmits the PIN code of the first AP to the first AP according to the request, and the terminal The first AP compares the transmitted PIN code with its own PIN code, and the terminal authenticates that the terminal accesses the first AP when the comparison results in the same PIN code.

The second AP authenticates the access of the terminal by the second AP requesting the terminal to transmit a PIN code, the terminal transmits the PIN code of the first AP to the second AP according to the request, and the terminal The second AP authenticates the access of the terminal using the transmitted PIN code as the access information of the terminal, and the second AP authenticates the access of the terminal with the access information of the terminal, the PIN code transmitted by the terminal as the access information. It is determined whether the terminal is connected to the first AP corresponding to the terminal, authenticates the connection when the terminal is connected to the first AP, and the second AP is connected to the terminal by the access information of the terminal. The second AP compares the PIN code transmitted by the terminal with its own PIN code before authenticating the certificate, and authenticates with the access information of the terminal when the comparison does not match the PIN code. .

After the AP authenticates the access of the terminal, the AP accesses the terminal.

Hereinafter, a method of connecting a terminal to an AP in the short-range communication system of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings of FIGS. 3 to 5.

3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a short-range communication system to which the connection method of the present invention is applied. Here, reference numeral 300 denotes a management system (MS), and reference numeral 310 and 312 denote first and second access points (APs).

The MS 300 and the first and second APs 310 and 312 are connected to a local area network (LAN), and the MS 300 manages operations of the first and second APs 310 and 312. do.

Reference numeral 320 is a terminal used by a user. The first and second APs 310 and 312 and the terminal 320 each have a short range communication module such as a Bluetooth communication module, respectively, and perform short range communication with each other.

4 is a signal flow diagram showing a connection method of the present invention, Figure 5 is a schematic diagram. As shown in FIG. 4, the terminal 320 and the first AP 310 perform an inquiries and an inquiries scan so that the terminal 320 searches for the first AP 310. That is, the terminal 320 performs an inquiries, and the first AP 310 located in the communication area of the terminal 320 performs an inquiries scan, so that the terminal 320 performs a BD (Bluetooth Device) of the first AP 310. Acquire an address.

When the terminal 320 performs an inquiry and the first AP 310 searches, the terminal 320 requests access to the first AP 310 in step S402.

Here, when the terminal 320 knows the BD address of the first AP 310 in advance, the terminal 320 does not perform the inquiry of the step S400 and requests to access the first AP 310 in the step S402. It may be.

In response to the access request of the first AP 310, the first AP 310 performs an authentication procedure of the terminal 320 in step S404.

In the authentication procedure, the first AP 310 requests the PIN code from the terminal 320, and the terminal 320 sends the PIN code of the first AP 310 to the first AP 310 according to the request of the PIN code. send. Then, the first AP 310 compares its PIN code with the PIN code transmitted by the terminal 320, and when the comparison result is the same, the first AP 310 is the terminal 320 It is determined that the terminal 320 is authenticated. That is, the first AP 310 determines that the terminal 320 is a terminal 320 that is allowed to access the terminal 320.

When the authentication is completed in step S404, the first AP 310 grants access to the terminal 320 in step S406. In a next step S408, the first AP 310 updates the MS 300 with location information of the terminal 320 indicating that the terminal 320 has been connected.

When the location information of the terminal 320 is updated, the MS 300 transmits a list of a plurality of APs of the local area communication system to the first AP 310 in step S410. That is, the first AP 310 provides a list of all APs managed by the MS 300 in the local area communication system, including the first AP 310 and the second AP 320. In a next step (S412), the first AP 310 transmits the provided list of APs to the terminal 320 so that the terminal 320 checks all the APs managed by the MS 300 in the local area communication system. To help.

In a next step S414, the MS 300 provides the access information of the terminal 320 to all APs. That is, the terminal 320 provides all the APs managed by the MS 300 to access the first AP 310 with the PIN code of the first AP 310 so that the APs can check.

In the next step S416, the terminal 320 and the first AP 310 provide a service while transmitting predetermined data to each other. Here, there are various ways to be connected. For example, when the user of the terminal 320 terminates the service provided by the first AP 310, the access may be terminated. In addition, when the reception sensitivity strength of the terminal 320 received by the second AP 312 is greater than the reception sensitivity strength of the terminal 320 received by the first AP 310, the MS 300 instructs handoff. You can terminate the connection.

In a next step (S420), the first AP 310 updates the MS 300 with location information of the terminal 320 indicating that the connection between the first AP 310 and the terminal 320 has been terminated.

As such, when the terminal 320 connects to the second AP 312 in a state in which the terminal 320 and the first AP 310 are disconnected, the terminal 320 and the second AP 312 in the first step S422. ) Performs an inquiries and an inquiries scan so that the terminal 320 searches for the second AP 312.

If the second AP 312 is found, the terminal 320 requests access to the second AP 312 in step S424. Then, the second AP 312 performs the authentication procedure of the terminal 320 in step S426. In the authentication procedure, the second AP 312 requests a PIN code from the terminal 320, and the terminal 320 sends the PIN code of the first AP 312 to the second AP 312 according to the request of the PIN code. send. Then, the second AP 312 compares its PIN code with the PIN code transmitted by the terminal 320, and when the comparison result is the same, the second AP 312 is the terminal 320 It is determined that the terminal 320 is authenticated. That is, the second AP 312 determines that the terminal 320 is a terminal 320 that is allowed to access the terminal 320. When the PIN code does not match as a result of the comparison, it is determined whether the terminal 320 accesses another AP belonging to the group of the local area communication system using the transmitted PIN code. That is, the second AP 312 accesses the first AP 310 with the PIN code of the first AP 310 using the access information of the terminal 320 received in the step S414. Determine whether or not. As a result of determination, when the terminal 420 accesses the first AP 310 with the PIN code of the first AP 310, the second AP 312 is a terminal to which the terminal 320 is permitted to access the local area communication system. It is determined that (320).

When the authentication is completed in step S426, the second AP 312 grants access to the terminal 320 in step S428, and the second AP 312 and the terminal 320 in step S430. After the second AP 312 updates the MS 300 with location information of the terminal 320 indicating that the device is connected, the first AP 310 and the terminal 320 mutually transmit predetermined data in step S432. Provide services while exchanging.

On the other hand, while the present invention has been shown and described with respect to specific preferred embodiments, various modifications and changes of the present invention without departing from the spirit or field of the invention provided by the claims below It can be easily understood by those skilled in the art.

As described in detail above, in the present invention, when the terminal authenticates and accesses the first AP with the PIN code of the first AP, the present invention provides access information of the terminal, which indicates that the terminal authenticates and accesses the first AP, to all second APs in the group. Share. When the terminal accesses the second AP, the PIN code of the first AP is transmitted to the second AP, and the second AP authenticates the terminal with access information of the shared terminal to permit access.

Therefore, in the present invention, if the terminal does not acquire all the PIN codes of the plurality of APs in the group and the terminal acquires only one PIN code in the group, the terminal can access a plurality of APs in the group and receive a predetermined service There is.

Claims (11)

When the terminal requests access to a first access point (AP) in a local area communication system in which a plurality of APs are grouped, the first AP authenticating the access of the terminal with a PIN code of the first AP; When the first AP authenticates the access of the terminal, allowing the first AP to transmit access information of the terminal to a management system (MS) so that all APs in the group share the access information of the terminal; And After all the APs in the group share the access information of the terminal, when the terminal requests access to the second AP, the second AP authenticates the access of the terminal with the PIN code of the first AP. In a short-range communication system comprising a terminal connected to an access point. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first AP authenticates access of the terminal; And updating the location information of the terminal to the MS. 3. The terminal of claim 2, wherein the location information of the terminal is updated; And the MS conveying a list of a plurality of APs in a group to the terminal via the first AP. The method of claim 1, further comprising: before the terminal requests access to the first and second APs; The terminal performing an inquiries, and the first and second APs performing an inquiries scan so that the terminal searches for the first and second APs. How to get connected. The method of claim 1, wherein the first AP authenticates a connection of the terminal; Requesting, by the first AP, the terminal to transmit a PIN code; Transmitting, by the terminal, a PIN code of the first AP to the first AP in response to a request of the PIN code; Comparing the PIN code transmitted by the terminal with its own PIN code; And Authenticating, by the terminal, that the terminal accesses the first AP when the PIN code coincides with the comparison result. The method of claim 1, wherein the second AP authenticates a connection of the terminal; Requesting, by the second AP, the terminal to transmit a PIN code; Transmitting, by the terminal, the PIN code of the first AP to the second AP according to the request of the PIN code; And And the second AP authenticates the access of the terminal by using the PIN code transmitted by the terminal to the access information of the terminal. The method of claim 6, wherein the second AP authenticates the access of the terminal with the access information of the terminal; The terminal determines whether the terminal is connected to the first AP corresponding to the PIN code transmitted by the terminal based on the access information, and authenticates the connection when the terminal is connected to the first AP. The terminal is connected to the access point in the short-range communication system. The method of claim 6, further comprising: before the second AP authenticates the terminal's connection with the terminal's connection information; The second AP compares the PIN code transmitted by the terminal with its own PIN code, and authenticates with access information of the terminal when the comparison does not match the PIN code. How to connect to the point. 9. The method of any one of claims 1 and 5 to 8, further comprising: after authenticating a connection of the terminal; And connecting the first and second APs to the terminal in a short range communication system. 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: before the terminal connects to the second AP; And the terminal terminates the connection with the first AP. 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: being connected to the first AP; And terminating the connection when the terminal requests to terminate the connection or when the MS commands a handoff.

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