Method for radio channel assignment in an electronic display system
The invention relates to a method for radio channel assignment in a system of electronic displays, the system comprising a data processing device, communication stations and electronic displays, and each communication station being designed to use a radio channel defined by the data processing device for radio communication with electronic displays allocated thereto, the method comprising the following method steps, specifically: defining the radio channel to be used on the basis of radio channel activity data which are transmitted by the communication station to the data processing device and describe a detected radio activity in the radio channel in question, characterised in that the communication station transmits the radio channel activity data at a time after the communication station in question has established an initial connection with at least one of the electronic displays by using a radio channel, wherein the radio channel activity data describe a detected radio activity after said initial connection has been established.
1 . A method for radio channel assignment in a system,
the system comprising a data processing device, communication stations, and electronic displays, and each of the communication stations being designed to use a radio channel defined by the data processing device for radio communication with a plurality of the electronic displays,
the method comprising the following method steps, specifically:
defining the radio channel to be used on the basis of radio channel activity data which are transmitted by a first communication station among the communication stations to the data processing device and describe a detected radio activity in the radio channel in question,
characterised in that
the first communication station is used to transmit the radio channel activity data at a time after the first communication station has established an initial connection with at least one of the electronic displays by using a radio channel, wherein the radio channel activity data describe the detected radio activity after said initial connection has been established,
wherein the first communication station comprises a first radio communication module for radio communication with the electronic displays according to a first communication protocol, and a second radio communication module for radio communication according to a second communication protocol, different from the first communication protocol, for radio communication with devices other than the electronic displays, wherein the radio activity is detected at the first radio communication module by querying radio channel use from the second radio communication module via a hardware interface and/or software interface.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the detected radio activity in the radio channel is detected with the aid of the first communication station at the location of the first communication station.
3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the first communication station selects a radio channel and receives radio signals in the selected radio channel in order to detect the radio activity.
4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data processing device defines both a first radio channel to be used by the first radio communication module and a second radio channel to be used by the second radio communication module, wherein the second radio channel substantially does not overlap with the first radio channel.
5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein
a radio activity in a radio channel is detected with the aid of an electronic display at the location of the electronic display in question, and the radio activity present at the location of the electronic display in question is transmitted to the data processing device as radio channel activity data together with a display identifier identifying the electronic display in question via the communication station to which the relevant electronic display is allocated.
6 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein the radio communication between one of the communication stations and the electronic displays allocated thereto takes place according to a time slot communication method, in which, in a repeating sequence, a number of time slots per time slot cycle, in particular a fixed number, are available for communication between the one of the communication stations and the electronic displays allocated thereto, and each time slot is labelled with a unique time slot symbol, wherein, owing to the use of the time slot symbol, each electronic display is allocated exactly one time slot in order to autonomously establish synchronism with the one of the communication stations and to communicate with the one of the communication stations as required, wherein a radio activity in a radio channel is detected with the aid of an electronic display during a time slot.
7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein a radio activity in a radio channel is detected with the aid of one of the electronic displays in a time slot which is unused in terms of communication between the one of the communication stations and the electronic displays allocated thereto, which also include the electronic display carrying out the detection of the radio activity.
8 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein a radio activity in a radio channel is detected with the aid of one of the electronic displays in a predefined time slot.
9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the predefined time slot is the last time slot of the time slot cycle.
10 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the radio activity detected at the relevant electronic display for one or more different channels is stored with the aid of the radio channel activity data.
11 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the radio channel activity data stored for the relevant electronic display is transmitted to the communication station in the time slot allocated to the relevant electronic display.
12 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the one or more different channels are predefined.
13 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the detection of the radio activity comprises a radio signal reception and a determination of a received signal strength indicator (RSSI for short).
14 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the radio channel to be used by the communication station in question for radio communication with the electronic displays allocated thereto is defined by the data processing device such that radio channel activities other than those of the communication station in question or the electronic displays allocated thereto in the defined radio channel can be substantially disregarded.
15 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the definition of the radio channel to be used comprises transmitting radio channel definition data, which can be used at the communication station to set the radio channel to be used, to the communication station.
16 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the detection of the radio activity and the transmission of radio channel activity data corresponding thereto are repeated chronologically.
17 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the second radio communication protocol is a WLAN communication module, or the second communication protocol is ZigBee or Bluetooth.
18 . An electronic display system, which comprises:
electronic displays,
communication stations, each of the communication stations being designed to use a defined radio channel for radio communication with a plurality of the electronic displays, and
a data processing device which is designed to define the radio channel to be used by a first communication station among the communication stations on the basis of radio channel activity data which are transmitted by the communication stations to the data processing device and describe a radio activity in the radio channel in question, characterised in that
the first communication station is designed to transmit the radio channel activity data at a time after the first communication station has established an initial connection with at least one of the electronic displays by using a radio channel, wherein the radio channel activity data describe a detected radio activity after said initial connection has been established,
wherein the first communication station comprises a first radio communication module for radio communication with the electronic displays according to a first communication protocol, and a second radio communication module for radio communication according to a second communication protocol, different from the first communication protocol, for radio communication with devices other than the electronic displays, wherein the first radio communication module is configured to detect the radio activity by querying radio channel use from the second radio communication module via a hardware interface and/or software interface.
19 . The system according to claim 18 , wherein
the second radio communication protocol is a WLAN communication module, or the second communication protocol is ZigBee or Bluetooth.