JP2003092785A - Mobile phone - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mobile phone that can realize a third-party call at a low budget with small power consumption and easily select members for the third-party call. SOLUTION: The mobile phone capable of making a cellular speech through a public network by communication with a wireless base station, is configured to comprise a Bluetooth communication means for automatically authenticating a device when the pre-registered device enters a wireless communication available range so as to set up a data communication available state, a data communication speech means for making a voice speech through data communication by the Bluetooth communication means, and a speech mixing means for intercommunicating the signal of a cellular speech and the signal for the data communication speech so as to attain a speech among three terminals or more including the speech destination terminal of the cellular speech and the speech destination terminal of the data communication speech.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile phone equipped with short-range wireless communication means such as a Bluetooth communication function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Mobile phones (PHS: Person) have been available for a long time.
There is a system that makes a three-way call using (including al Handy Phone). In such a system, for example, even when a three-way call is made between three mobile terminals that are relatively close to each other, each of the three mobile terminals communicates with a wireless base station of the telephone company, and By distributing the voice signals of the three parties to other mobile terminals, the three parties can talk simultaneously. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-
Japanese Patent No. 135304 discloses a technique using such a three-way call.

[0003]

However, in the conventional three-way call system using the mobile phones, even when the mobile phones are close to each other, each mobile phone communicates with the radio base station located at a remote place. It is necessary to connect to the system of the telephone company, and each person incurs a telephone bill, and the power consumed by each mobile phone is unnecessarily large.

Further, in order to make a three-way call, it is necessary to register each mobile phone in advance in the system of the telephone company. For example, when adding or changing a member to a group capable of three-way calling. Had to apply to the telephone company and re-register the mobile phone number of the member to the telephone company's system. Such a process is complicated and time consuming.

Incidentally, in recent years, a communication technique called Bluetooth has been developed which enables various electronic devices to mutually perform data communication within a range of about 10 m by utilizing a frequency band that can be used without permission. In Bluetooth communication, a Bluetooth ID that identifies electronic devices that are mutually connected in advance
When the electronic device having the registered Bluetooth ID is registered in each electronic device and enters the wireless range, the electronic device is automatically recognized and the data communication is established. , A small network called a piconet is composed of those electronic devices that are capable of data communication. Further, in Bluetooth communication, a communication protocol for exchanging a voice signal between two electronic devices to talk with each other is also included. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-189974 discloses a technique for efficiently performing Bluetooth communication.

[0006] At present, development is being carried out to implement various functions by mounting a Bluetooth communication function on a mobile phone. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-169
An example of such a technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 010.

In order to connect the mobile phone to some system to realize a special function, it is necessary to set the ID information and password in the mobile phone to identify the mobile phone. An example of the identification processing technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-174893.

However, these prior arts do not disclose the technology that enables three-way calling.

An object of the present invention is to provide a mobile phone capable of realizing a three-way call of a mobile phone with a low budget and low power consumption, and further capable of easily setting a member who can make a three-way call. To provide. Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique that enables three-way calling, which is not possible in a conventionally proposed mobile phone having a Bluetooth communication function.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a mobile phone capable of cellular communication, which is a communication through a public network by communicating with a radio base station, in which a pre-registered device is provided. Short-distance wireless communication means that automatically authenticates the device and establishes a data-communicable state when it enters the wireless communication range, and data communication that makes a voice call by data communication of the short-distance wireless communication means Three or more terminals including a data communication call means capable of making a call, and a callee terminal of a cellular call and a callee terminal of the data communication call by mixing the signal of the cellular call and the signal of the data communication call It is configured to include a call mixing unit that enables a call between the users.

According to such a means, for example, when a three-way call is made between a telephone connected to an outside line and a plurality of mobile telephones in the vicinity, the telephone is connected to the outside line telephone by communicating with the radio base station of the telephone company. Only one mobile phone is used, and other mobile phones can participate in a three-way call by a data communication call of a short-distance wireless communication means, so the phone bill is connected to an outside line.
It requires only a stand and is reasonably priced, and since mobile phones that are not connected to outside lines only perform short-distance wireless communication, they can reduce power consumption compared to communicating with a base station.

Preferably, the data communication call means is
It is preferable that the data communication call be simultaneously performed between three or more terminals by performing data communication with two or more other terminals in parallel. With such a configuration, it becomes possible to make a three-party call only by a data communication call, and it is possible to make a call simultaneously between an outside line telephone and three or more mobile phones.

Preferably, the data communication call means is provided with an ID storing means for storing ID information for identifying itself and an ID designating means for designating ID information for identifying a partner's terminal. The data communication call may be started with the other party's terminal designated by the means or another terminal's own ID. According to such means,
It is possible to register ID information for a three-way call in a large number of mobile phones and select a designated mobile phone from these when performing a three-way call and add it to the three-way call.

More preferably, an ID setting means capable of setting own ID information by a user's operation is preferably provided. With this configuration, the setting to enable or disable three-way calling was conventionally required to perform a complicated and time-consuming procedure such as applying to the telephone company and registering with the telephone company's system. Individuals can easily and easily do it. Further, the ID information for three-way calling can be set to a cheap number such as an employee number that the user can handle.

It is also desirable that the ID information of the user is set through the data communication of the short-range wireless communication means, and
It is preferable to include a second ID setting unit capable of setting ID information of another terminal via the data communication of the short-range wireless communication unit. With this configuration, when there are a plurality of mobile phones, it is convenient because the three-way call can be set for all the mobile phones with one operation.

[0016] It is also desirable to have a three-way call operation means for starting a three-way call for making a call between three or more terminals at the same time, and the call mixing means or the above-mentioned call mixing means based on the operation of the three-way call operation means. It is preferable that the three-way call is started by the data communication call means.

When switching from a two-party call to a three-party call, 3
Rather than suddenly making a three-way call by calling the third person, you can switch to a three-way call after you turn off the phone and call the third person in a normal call mode. This is more friendly to the user, and the above configuration enables such switching. Specifically, it is preferable that the short-range wireless communication means has a configuration conforming to the Bluetooth standard.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a functional configuration of a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view showing types of operation keys of this mobile phone.

In the mobile phone 1 of this embodiment, a cellular communication module 10 for making a cellular call through a radio base station of a telephone company and a data communication conforming to the Bluetooth standard without a base station are performed. Bluetooth communication module 20 as a short-range wireless communication means, and ID
A dedicated ID module 40 that has a non-volatile memory (ID storage means) that stores information and that sets and manages ID information for identifying each terminal in a three-way call, and a control module that controls the operation of each block 30 and.

The cellular communication module 10 includes an antenna 11 for transmitting and receiving signals to and from a radio base station, a transmission / reception circuit, a circuit for modulating / demodulating a baseband signal, a voice signal addressed to itself and a voice signal encoded from the baseband signal. It is equipped with a baseband processing circuit.

In addition, the Bluetooth communication module 20
Includes an antenna and a transmission / reception circuit that transmits / receives signals at a frequency of the Bluetooth standard, a modulation / demodulation circuit that converts the transmission / reception signal to a baseband signal, and a Bluetooth that complies with the Bluetooth communication protocol by inputting / outputting the baseband signal. A control block that performs ID authentication and data communication processing is installed.

The Bluetooth communication standard defines a communication method for exchanging voices between two terminals as a data communication call means. In the mobile phone 1 of this embodiment, data communication between two terminals is also performed. This method is used for calls. When a data communication call is made between three or more terminals, a call process by software of the control module 30 described later is used as a data communication call means for three or more parties.

The control module 30 sends a command to the cellular communication module 10 or the Bluetooth communication module 20 based on a key input to control the operation of causing each communication module to execute a predetermined communication process, or a microphone or a speaker to perform cellular communication. Switching control for switching between the module 10 side and the Bluetooth communication module 20 side is performed.
The control module 30 also has a function as a call mixing unit, and exchanges audio signals between the cellular communication module 10 and the Bluetooth communication module 20,
A call mixing process for mixing a cellular call made by the cellular communication module 10 and a data communication call made by the Bluetooth communication module 20 is performed.

Further, the control module 30 performs a data communication three-way call process in which a data communication call is simultaneously performed with two or more other terminals by utilizing the Bluetooth communication module 20 by software processing. In this data communication three-party call processing, voice data that is input to a microphone and digitized by an AD converter is compressed by software processing of the control module 30, and this compressed data is transmitted to a plurality of terminals of the other party by Bluetooth communication, respectively.
The compressed data received from a plurality of terminals of the other party is expanded by software processing of the control module 30 to restore a voice signal, converted into an analog signal by a DA converter and output from a speaker.

In the above data communication call, the terminal of the call destination is identified by relying on the ID information stored in the dedicated ID module 40. That is, before the call is started, the user can specify the ID information of the callee by a key operation or the like and call the other party's terminal by data communication to make the call. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the mobile phone 1 is provided with an ID key. When performing data communication, the user first presses this ID key to shift to the ID information input mode, and then, The ID information of the data communication destination is designated by operating the ten-key pad 6 or selecting the information of the destination stored in the built-in memory by scrolling or the like.

When a three-way call (including a three-way call only for data communication and a three-way call including an outside line) is performed in the data communication, first, the call is originally made by the software processing of the control module 30. The other party who has been calling is put on hold, and a call is started between the two parties to the call destination who newly placed the telephone. Then, by pressing a three-way call key (FIG. 3) as a three-way call operating means provided in the mobile phone 1, a call is started between a plurality of parties including the party who was originally talking. It has become so. By such a control process, the user can inform the called party that the call is going to be made by the three-party call and then shift to the three-party call state, which is kind to the user. If the new caller refuses the three-party call, the hook key 4 (FIG. 3) can be pressed to return to the original call without adding the new caller.

Further, the control module 30 also has a function as an ID setting means and a second ID setting means, and can also perform processing for changing the setting of its own ID information and ID information of other terminals. . That is, new ID information is written in a predetermined storage area of the dedicated ID module 40 based on a user's key operation, or new ID information and its write command are transmitted to another terminal using the Bluetooth communication module 20. , ID information of other terminals can be changed. On the contrary, based on new ID information and write command sent from another terminal via Bluetooth communication, this ID information is written in a predetermined storage area of the dedicated ID module 40. Before setting the ID information through Bluetooth communication, perform authentication processing such as password input,
It is preferable to configure it so that only a specific user can do it.

FIG. 3 shows the mobile phone 1 of this embodiment.
1 shows an example of a call system configured by. The mobile phone 1 according to this embodiment has the above-described configuration to form the following call system. That is, a plurality of mobile phones 1, 1a to 1c having the same configuration are
When placed within a relatively short distance within 0 m, the Bluetooth communication module 20 automatically recognizes these mobile phones 1, 1a to 1c and puts them in a data communicable state, which is a so-called piconet. A wireless network of distances is built. In this wireless network, one unit is set as a master and the other units are set as slaves to perform data communication between the master and slave, and by sequentially moving the master to each unit,
Data communication becomes possible between each terminal. When the wireless network is constructed, each of the mobile phones 1, 1a to 1c can make a call by data communication between the plurality of mobile phones designated for the call.

Further, each of the mobile phones 1, 1a to 1c can make an outside line call to another phone via the public network by communicating with the radio base station. Then, when the call mixing process of the control module 30 is executed in a state where the outside line call and the data communication call are simultaneously performed, a plurality of terminals including an outside line call destination and a data communication communication call destination are connected. It enables three-way calling.

In the example of FIG. 3, while the mobile phone 1 makes an outside line call, the mobile phone 1 and another mobile phone 1a,
A data communication call is in progress with 1b. And
By the call mixing process of the mobile phone 1, the outside line call and the data communication call by the cellular communication are mixed, and the three-way call is performed between the outside line call destination and the data communication call destination.

The procedure for starting a three-way call using the mobile phone 1 will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a process of shifting to the three-party call mode using the mobile phone of the embodiment.

In the transition to the three-way call, first, the ID is applied while a call is being made to a third party by an outside line call or a data communication call.
It is started by pressing the key 2 (step S1). ID
When the key 2 is pressed and the transition process is started, the other party with whom the call was originally made is put on hold.

Next, since it is required to specify the ID information of the other party to be added to the three-way call, the user can key in the ID number of the other party or the ID of another person stored in the dedicated ID module 40. Information is selected by operating a scroll key or the like to specify the ID information of the other party (step S2). The ID designating unit is configured by the software processing of the control module 30 performed in step S2.

When the ID information of the other party is designated, the calling process of the other party's terminal is performed by Bluetooth communication (step S3). That is, the ringing tone is output to the terminal of its own to wait for a response, and the terminal of the other party emits the ringing tone to enable the response.

In this state, if the other terminal responds, the process proceeds to step S5, and if there is no response, the process proceeds to step S8.
That is, if there is no response, the user gives up the call and presses the hook key 4 (step S8). Then, the calling process is stopped, and the state of the call with the original call partner held in step S1 is restored (step S9).

On the other hand, when there is a response and the call is made available to the other party, the user asks the other party for permission of the three-party call (step S5). If the call partner accepts the permission, the process proceeds to step S6, and if the permission is not accepted, the process proceeds to step S8.

As a result, when the three-way call is permitted, the user presses the three-way call key 3 (step S6), and thereby the three-way call process is started (step S7). That is, a three-way call is started in which a plurality of parties including the original caller and the newly called party can simultaneously talk. On the other hand, if the three-party call is not permitted, the user presses the hook key 4 (step S8) and returns to the call state with the original call partner (step S9).

As described above, according to the mobile phone 1 of this embodiment, for example, when a three-way call is made between a phone connected to an outside line and a plurality of mobile phones nearby, communication with the radio base station is performed. Since only one mobile phone can be connected to an external telephone, other mobile phones can participate in a three-way call by a data communication call of the Bluetooth communication module.
The telephone charges are reasonable for only one unit connected to the outside line, and the mobile phone not connected to the outside line performs wireless communication only for short-distance wireless communication, so that power consumption can be reduced.

The ID information used to identify each mobile phone in a data communication call can be used by the user to operate a key on each mobile phone or by operating one mobile phone to obtain another information by Bluetooth communication. The user can make settings by remotely operating the mobile phone. Therefore, in order to perform the setting that enables three-way calling, conventionally, a complicated and time-consuming procedure of applying to the telephone company and registering in the system of the telephone company is required, whereas in the present embodiment, It can be done by the user in a short time. Further, the ID information for three-way calling can be set to a cheap number such as an employee number that the user can handle.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but various modifications can be made. For example, although the ID key 2 and the three-way call key 3 are provided as the operation keys of the mobile phone 1, the operation menu similar to the ID key and the three-way call key is displayed on the display unit 5 by operating the function keys. By selecting the operation menu, the same operation as the key operation may be performed. Further, the details specifically shown in this embodiment such as the data communication call system can be appropriately changed.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention,
There is an effect that a three-way call can be realized at a reasonable charge and with low power consumption. Further, in the past, in order to make a three-way call, a complicated and time-consuming procedure such as applying to a telephone company and registering in the system of the telephone company was required, whereas in the present invention, a three-way call is made. There is an effect that the user can easily set the ID information to be performed in a short time. Further, at that time, there is an effect that the ID information can be set to a cheap number such as an employee number that the user can handle.

Further, when switching from a two-party call to a three-party call by means of a three-party call operation means for starting a three-party call, the third person is called in a normal call mode once to switch to the three-party call. In that case, it is possible to switch to a three-way call after refusing, so that there is an effect of being kind to the user.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a functional configuration of a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing types of operation keys of the mobile phone according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a call system including the mobile phone according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for making a three-way call using the mobile phone of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 1a-1c mobile phones 2 ID key 3 three-way call key 4 hook key 10 Cellular communication module 20 Bluetooth communication module 30 control module 40 dedicated ID module

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A mobile phone capable of performing a cellular call, which is a call through a public network by communicating with a wireless base station, automatically activates a previously registered device when it enters the wireless communication range. By performing short-distance wireless communication means conforming to the Bluetooth standard that establishes a state in which data is communicatively authenticated and data communication of the short-distance wireless communication means is performed in parallel with two or more other terminals, respectively. A data communication call means capable of simultaneously performing a data communication call, which is a voice call by data communication between three or more terminals, and a callee terminal of a cellular call by mixing the signal of the cellular call and the signal of the data communication call. And a call mixing means capable of making a call between three or more terminals including the callee terminal of the data communication call, and an ID case storing ID information for identifying itself. Means and, self I through and capable ID setting means setting its own ID information by the user operation, the data communication of the short-range wireless communication means
Second setting of D information and setting of ID information of another terminal through data communication of the short-range wireless communication means
And an ID designating means for designating ID information for identifying the terminal of the other party, wherein the data communication call means is a terminal of the partner designated by the ID designating means or another terminal. Of I
When D is specified, the three-way call operation means is configured to start the data communication call with the other party's terminal, and further performs a three-way call start operation for simultaneously calling between three or more terminals. A mobile phone comprising: a three-way call by the call mixing means or the data communication call means based on an operation of the three-way call operation means. 2. A mobile phone capable of performing a cellular call, which is a call through a public network by communicating with a wireless base station, automatically activates a previously registered device when it enters the wireless communication range. Short-distance wireless communication means that establishes a state in which data communication can be performed by authenticating the user, data-communication communication means that enables data-communication communication by performing voice communication by data communication of the short-distance wireless communication means, and a signal of the cellular communication. And call mixing means for mixing the signal of the data communication call and making a call between three or more terminals including the callee terminal of the cellular call and the callee terminal of the data communication call. A mobile phone that is characterized by 3. The data communication call means performs data communication with two or more other terminals in parallel.
The mobile phone according to claim 2, wherein the data communication call can be simultaneously performed between a plurality of terminals. 4. An ID storage means for storing ID information for identifying itself, and an ID designating means for designating ID information for identifying a partner's terminal, wherein the data communication call means is configured by the ID designating means. I / O of the designated party's terminal or other terminal
4. The mobile phone according to claim 2, wherein the mobile phone is configured to start the data communication call with the other terminal when D is designated. 5. The mobile phone according to claim 4, further comprising an ID setting means capable of setting own ID information by a user's operation. 6. A first device capable of setting own ID information through data communication of the short-range wireless communication means and setting ID information of another terminal through data communication of the short-range wireless communication means. The mobile phone according to claim 4 or 5, further comprising two ID setting means. 7. A three-way call operating means for performing a three-way call start operation for simultaneously making a call between three or more terminals, and the call mixing means or data communication based on the operation of the three-way call operating means. The mobile phone according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the mobile phone is configured to start a three-way call by a call means. 8. The short-range wireless communication means conforms to the Bluetooth standard.
The mobile phone according to any one of to 7.