JP2011119784A - Radio communication system and radio communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To deduce the reason why a mating terminal goes out of a service range, when it goes outside the service range, and to deduce the time, until the mating terminal returns to the inside of the service range. <P>SOLUTION: A position management server 104A acquires positional information transmitted from a radio communication terminal 200a to be stored in positional information DB 120. An out-of-service range determining unit 111 determines the case where the positional information of the radio communication terminal 200a cannot be acquired by a positional information acquiring unit 110 to become an out-of-communication range. When the radio communication terminal 200a goes out of the service range, a terminal condition deducing unit 112 acquires the location information of the radio communication terminal 200a at the last positional information has been acquired, based on the contents of the positional information DB 120 and a map information DB 121, obtains the latest moving speed of the radio communication terminal 200a, and refers to the content of a case DB 122 by the moving speed, to deduce the reason why the radio communication terminal 200a has gone out of the service range. The terminal condition estimating unit 112 deduces the time the radio communication terminal returns to the inside of the service range. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless communication system and a wireless communication method, and more particularly to a wireless communication system and a wireless communication method that improve the convenience of bidirectional real-time communication.

  In two-way real-time communication, such as telephone and video conferencing, when the communication partner is a wireless communication terminal such as a mobile phone terminal, if the radio field strength that can be received from the wireless base station becomes weak, the wireless communication terminal will be out of the communication range, and May be interrupted or cut off. Normally, if communication is interrupted at an unexpected timing, if the terminal is within the communication range, it can be assumed that the communication has been interrupted because the other terminal is out of communication range, but the reason for the interruption and when communication is possible again It is difficult to know what will be.

  An example of a solution to this problem is described in Patent Document 1. In the wireless communication system and the wireless terminal device disclosed in Patent Document 1, the second wireless device of the other party is communicating with the first wireless communication terminal and the second wireless communication terminal of the partner via the network device. The communication terminal notifies the network device of its own radio wave condition in real time. The network device notifies the first radio communication terminal of the radio wave status of the second radio communication terminal in real time. As a result, the user of the first wireless communication terminal can know that the radio wave condition of the second wireless communication terminal becomes weaker and cannot communicate, and in this case, the other second wireless communication terminal It can be inferred that has gone out of range.

  An example of another solution is described in Patent Document 2. The mobile phone terminal device disclosed in Patent Literature 2 notifies the counterpart terminal of the background displayed during communication and the terminal position information displayed on the map. As a result, the location of the partner terminal can be confirmed on the map at all times. Therefore, when the partner cannot communicate, it can be assumed that the partner has gone out of service area and is behind an obstacle such as a building.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a mobile communication system capable of knowing the status of the inquired wireless communication terminal (mobile communication terminal). In this mobile communication system, when the first radio communication terminal inquires about the radio wave status of the second radio communication terminal to the base station control apparatus via the first radio base station, the base station control apparatus The information request is notified to the wireless communication terminal via the second wireless base station. Accordingly, the second wireless communication terminal acquires its own terminal position information and movement speed information, and transmits a response to the base station controller. Whether the base station control device refers to the map database that it has based on the received position information, and whether the second wireless communication terminal is in the building based on the received moving speed information It is determined whether the vehicle is moving by a vehicle, the vehicle is moving by a train, or the vehicle is moving by walking, and the radio wave status information of the determination result (second wireless communication terminal) is obtained. Transmit to the first wireless communication terminal.

  As a result, the user of the first wireless communication terminal can know the moving state immediately before the other party's second wireless communication terminal is out of service area, and can therefore infer the reason for out of service area. Moreover, in the mobile communication system described in Patent Document 3, the moving speed until immediately before going out of range is acquired, and the moving route of the counterpart wireless communication terminal is determined using the feature on the map of the location. In addition to the estimation, by acquiring the distance to the location of the next place on the moving route, it is possible to estimate the time until returning to the area from the information on the moving speed and the distance.

JP 2006-295881 A JP 2005-295329 A JP 2009-239586 A

  However, in the methods described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, information can be acquired only while the communication partner is communicable, that is, within the area, and information is acquired after the area is out of the area. What cannot be done is a problem. If you check the information after going out of service, you can't guess why it was out of service.

  In addition, in the methods described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, when the partner terminal once goes out of service and returns to the service area, the time until the service partner terminal returns to service area is estimated. Can not do it.

  On the other hand, the mobile communication system described in Patent Document 3 is also only when the first and second radio communication terminals are within the first and second radio base stations connected to the base station controller. Since it operates, the user of the first wireless communication terminal guesses why the wireless communication terminal is out of service when the second wireless communication terminal is out of service of the second wireless base station. The time until the wireless communication terminal returns to the area cannot be estimated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is possible to estimate the reason why the partner terminal is out of range when it is out of range, or to estimate the time until the partner terminal returns to the range It is an object to provide a system and a wireless communication method.

In order to achieve the above object, the wireless communication system of the present invention is capable of communicating with a partner terminal when the wireless communication terminal is within the communication range of the nearest wireless base station, and is wireless. A wireless communication system in which a base station is connected to a call control server and a location management server,
The position management server includes position information acquisition means for sequentially acquiring position information from the wireless communication terminal, position information storage means for storing position information acquired by the position information acquisition means, and map information storage for storing map information in advance A non-service area determining means for determining whether the wireless communication terminal is out of service area where the wireless communication terminal cannot communicate with the wireless base station, and the position information storage means immediately before being determined to be out of service area The movement status of the wireless communication terminal is calculated from the change in the position information stored up to and compared with the features on the map around the position of the wireless communication terminal read from the map information storage means based on the movement status and the position information. Then, out-of-service reason estimation means for estimating the reason why the wireless communication terminal is out of service, and out-of-service reason estimation information indicating the reason for being out of service estimated by the out-of-service reason estimation means, A transmission means for transmitting to the communication partner terminal of the wireless communication terminal based on the information obtained from the call control server,
The wireless communication terminal acquires location information of its own terminal and transmits it to the location management server via the nearest wireless base station and receives out-of-service reason estimation information transmitted by the out-of-service reason transmission device. It is characterized by comprising reason estimation information receiving means.

In order to achieve the above object, the wireless communication method of the present invention can communicate with a partner terminal when the wireless communication terminal is within the communication range of the nearest wireless base station, and A wireless communication method of a wireless communication system in which a wireless base station is connected to a call control server and a location management server,
The location information transmission step in which the wireless communication terminal acquires the location information of the terminal itself and transmits it to the location management server via the nearest radio base station, and the location management server sequentially receives the location information transmitted from the radio communication terminal. A location information acquisition step to be acquired, a location information storage step in which the location management server stores the location information acquired in the location information acquisition step, and a location management server is in an out-of-service state where the wireless communication terminal cannot communicate with the wireless base station The out-of-service determination step for determining whether or not the wireless communication terminal is out of the service area in the position information storage step until the position management server determines that it is out of service in the out-of-service determination step. On the map around the position of the wireless communication terminal calculated from the map information storage means based on the movement status and location information By comparing with the characteristics, out-of-service reason estimation step for estimating the reason why the wireless communication terminal is out of service area, and the out-of-service reason estimation information indicating the reason that the location management server is out of service area estimated by the out-of-service reason estimation step. A transmission step for transmitting to the communication partner terminal of the wireless communication terminal based on information obtained from the call control server, and an out-of-service reason estimation information receiving step for receiving the out-of-service reason estimation information transmitted by the out-of-service reason transmission step. It is characterized by including.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, when the radio | wireless communication terminal in communication becomes out of service area, the reason for out-of-service area when the radio communication terminal becomes out of service area can be estimated. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to estimate the scheduled return time of a wireless communication terminal that is out of service area.

It is a system configuration figure of one embodiment of the radio communications system of the present invention. It is a block diagram of 1st Embodiment of the position management server and radio | wireless communication terminal 200a, 200b shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the positional information accumulate | stored in positional information DB shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the content of case DB shown in FIG. It is a flowchart for operation | movement description of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of 2nd Embodiment of the position management server 104 and radio | wireless communication terminal 200a, 200b shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the positional information accumulate | stored in positional information DB shown in FIG.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In all the drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the same components, and the description will be omitted as appropriate.

  FIG. 1 shows a system configuration diagram of an embodiment of a wireless communication system according to the present invention. FIG. 1 conceptually shows only a portion related to the present invention in the configuration of the wireless communication system.

  In FIG. 1, a wireless communication system 1 includes a network 100, a wireless communication terminal 200a, and a wireless communication terminal 200b. The wireless communication terminals 200a and 200b have the same configuration, and are collectively referred to as the wireless communication terminal 200 when collectively referred to.

  The network 100 includes a radio base station 101, a call control server 102, a media relay server 103, and a location management server 104. The network 100 performs a function of connecting the radio communication terminals 200 to each other and a mobile communication circuit switching or packet switching. Has the function to perform. The network 100 may include, for example, any of the Internet, an intranet, a wired or wireless LAN, a mobile line switching network, a mobile packet switching network, and the like.

  A plurality of wireless base stations 101 are arranged in the network 100 and are connected to the call control server 102, the media relay server 103, and the location management server 104. The radio base station 101 has a function of relaying communication between each of the above-described servers in the network 100 and the radio communication terminal 200, and a list of the radio communication terminals 200 that can communicate with each radio base station 101. Has data (not shown). As is well known, when the wireless communication terminal 200 is within the communication range of the nearest wireless base station 101, the wireless communication terminal 200 can communicate with the other terminal as being within the communication range and deviates from the communication range of the wireless base station 101. Is out of service area and communication with the other terminal becomes impossible. Further, even when the wireless communication terminal 200 enters a tunnel or the like and cannot communicate with the nearest wireless base station 101, the wireless communication terminal 200 is out of service area and cannot communicate with the partner terminal.

  The call control server 102 performs call control for communication between the wireless communication terminals 200. The media relay server 103 is used for relaying media signals such as audio and video without direct exchange (peer-to-peer) when communicating between the wireless communication terminals 200. When the wireless communication terminal 200 does not have a peer-to-peer function or when it is not desired to perform peer-to-peer communication for communication control, voice mixing and video editing are performed for communication between three or more wireless communication terminals 200. When necessary, the call control server 102 specifies media signal communication via the media relay server 103.

  The location management server 104 acquires the location information of the wireless communication terminal 200, and when the wireless communication terminal 200a becomes unable to communicate with the wireless base station 101, the location management server 104 performs communication by estimating the reason why communication is not possible and the time until communication is restored. This is a terminal information management device having a function of notifying the counterpart wireless communication terminal 200b.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the first embodiment of the location management server 104 and the wireless communication terminals 200a and 200b. In FIG. 2, the location management server 104 </ b> A is a server according to the first embodiment of the location management server 104 of FIG. 1, and is connected to the call control server 102 and the media relay server 103 together with the wireless communication terminal 200. In FIG. 2, the wireless base station 101 located between the location management server 104A and each of the wireless communication terminals 200a and 200b is not shown, but the location management server 104A includes the media relay server 103, the wireless base station It communicates with the radio communication terminals 200a and 200b via the station 101 (the same applies to FIG. 6 described later).

  FIG. 2 shows a state in which the wireless communication terminal 200a and the wireless communication terminal 200b are communicating via the network 100, and the respective call control units 210a and 210b establish a call via the call control server 102. Yes. In addition, the media communication units 211a and 211b of the wireless communication terminal 200a and the wireless communication terminal 200b are connected via the media relay server 103 or directly without passing through the media relay server 103 (portions indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 2), Send and receive media data such as video.

  Further, the wireless communication terminal 200a includes a position information control unit 213. The wireless communication terminal 200b includes a communication partner state notification unit 214. The position information control unit 213 transmits, for example, the position information (latitude and longitude) of the wireless communication terminal 200a obtained by a well-known global positioning system (GPS) function to the position information acquisition unit 110 of the position management server 104A. To do. When the wireless communication terminal 200a does not have a GPS function, the position information control unit 213 may use information that can identify the wireless base station 101 in communication as position information. Since the position information may change with time, the position information may be transmitted when an event such as a certain time interval or when a call occurs, or both.

  The location management server 104A includes a location information acquisition unit 110, an out-of-service determination unit 111, a terminal state estimation unit 112, a call control information acquisition unit 113, an information transmission unit 114, a location information database (DB) 120, and a map information database (DB) 121. And a case database (DB) 122.

  The position information acquisition unit 110 accumulates position information acquired sequentially from the wireless communication terminal 200a in the position information DB 120. FIG. 3 shows an example of position information stored in the position information DB 120. As shown in FIG. 3, the position information DB 120 accumulates position information including information acquisition time and latitude / longitude information acquired as position information from a certain wireless communication terminal (here, terminal A). When the terminal A does not have a GPS function, the latitude / longitude information of the wireless base station 101 in communication may be recorded.

  The out-of-service determining unit 111 periodically reads out the position information of the wireless communication terminal 200 a from the position information acquisition unit 110 and determines whether or not the wireless communication terminal 200 a is out of the communication range of the wireless base station 101. As a determination method outside the communication range, here, a case where the position information acquisition unit 110 cannot acquire the position information of the wireless communication terminal 200a is determined to be out of the communication range.

  When the out-of-service determination unit 111 determines that the wireless communication terminal 200a is out of the communication range, the terminal state estimation unit 112 estimates the reason for being out of communication range. The reason is estimated as follows.

  The terminal state estimation unit 112 first reads the position information of the wireless communication terminal 200a stored in the position information DB 120, and determines the moving speed of the wireless communication terminal 200a from the information acquisition time and the latitude / longitude information in the position information. Ask. For example, assume that the moving speed is 100 km / h. Further, the terminal state estimation unit 112 refers to the map information including the latitude / longitude stored in the map information DB 121 based on the latitude / longitude information acquired from the position information DB 120, and the acquired latitude / longitude on the map. Search for features such as whether the longitude information is on the road or on the train tracks. For example, it is assumed that the acquired latitude / longitude information is found on a Shinkansen track. The map information DB 121 may include information on the location of the wireless base station 101 and a location where radio waves can be reached.

  Next, the terminal state estimation part 112 reads the content of case DB122, and estimates the reason for having become out of service area. FIG. 4 shows an example of the contents of the case DB 122. As shown in FIG. 4, the content of the case DB 122 associates the moving speed of the terminal, the case, and the reason outside the service area.

  Here, for example, when the moving speed of the terminal obtained from the information in the position information DB 120 is less than 10 km / h, the user who has the terminal is moving on foot as an example, Suppose you enter In addition, when the speed is 10 km or more and less than 30 km per hour, it is assumed that the user who has the terminal is moving by bicycle as an example, and that the reason why he / she is out of service is entering the shadow of the building or entering the tunnel. When the speed is 30 km / h or more, it is assumed that the car is moving by car or train as an example. Suppose that

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the contents of the case DB 122. The moving speed can be set more finely, and the reason for being out of service can be set for reasons other than those given here.

  Here, when the terminal state estimation unit 112 compares the case where the moving speed is 100 km / h with the case DB 122 of FIG. 4, the user using the terminal moves on a car or a train from the moving speed. You can see that there is a possibility. In addition, from the case DB 122, there is a possibility that it entered the tunnel or out of the radio base station area as the reason for being out of service area, but the last acquired latitude / longitude information was on the Shinkansen line as described above In this case, it can be estimated that the user using the terminal is moving on the train (Shinkansen).

  In addition, the terminal state estimation unit 112 has a tunnel in the traveling direction on the Shinkansen line from the map information stored in the map information DB 121, and from the time when the position information was last acquired and the moving speed of the terminal When the position is calculated, if the latitude / longitude of the current position is within the tunnel, it can be estimated that the reason that the terminal is out of service is that the terminal has entered the tunnel.

  Moreover, the terminal state estimation part 112 can estimate the time until the user who uses the said terminal enters into the area next. For example, the time is estimated as follows in the case of the above example.

  When the map information DB 121 includes information on a place where radio waves from the radio base station 101 can reach, the terminal state estimation unit 112 confirms how far it will go within the currently traveling track. Furthermore, the terminal state estimation part 112 measures the distance to the place which reaches | attains the area in the case of advancing along a track | line based on the latitude / longitude information and map information which were acquired at the end. Then, the time required to reach the area is calculated by dividing the measured distance by the moving speed of the Shinkansen.

  The moving speed of the Shinkansen can be obtained by the following method. For example, a method of giving a fixed value (such as 150 km / h) as the moving speed information of the Shinkansen in the case DB 122, a method of obtaining and using speed information on a specific route of the Shinkansen in the case DB 122, or For example, the speed of time required to enter the tunnel is obtained from the information in the position information DB 120, and the speed is used as the moving speed in the tunnel.

  The call control information acquisition unit 113 acquires information indicating that the wireless communication terminal 200b is connected to the wireless communication terminal 200a from the call control server 102. When one of the wireless communication terminals (for example, the wireless communication terminal 200a) in communication is out of service area, the call may be disconnected and the call control information may be deleted from the call control server 102. The acquisition of call control information may be repeated.

  The information transmission unit 114 transmits the information estimated by the terminal state estimation unit 112 to the counterpart terminal with which the wireless communication terminal 200a is communicating. The information transmitting unit 114 reads information on the partner terminal with which communication is performed from the call control information acquiring unit 113. For example, the terminal state estimation unit 112 estimates information that the wireless communication terminal 200a moves on the Shinkansen, enters the tunnel, becomes out of service area, and returns to the communication area after approximately 45 seconds. Furthermore, when the information transmission unit 114 reads from the call control information acquisition unit 113 that the communication partner of the wireless communication terminal 200a is the wireless communication terminal 200b, the wireless communication terminal 200a enters the tunnel to the wireless communication terminal 200b. The reason for becoming out of service area and the predicted time information for returning to the service area after 45 seconds are returned.

  The communication partner state notification unit 214 of the wireless communication terminal 200b acquires the reason why the wireless communication terminal 200a is out of service area and the predicted time information until it returns to the service area from the information transmission unit 114 of the location management server 104A. The user of the wireless communication terminal 200b is notified of the acquired reason for the out of service area and the predicted time information for returning to the service area through the video display device or audio device of the communication terminal 200b.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the location management server 104A.

  In FIG. 5, it is assumed that the wireless communication terminal 200a is already in communication with the wireless communication terminal 200b. When in the communication state, the location information control unit 213 of the radio communication terminal 200a periodically transmits the location information of the radio communication terminal 200a to the location information acquisition unit 110 of the location management server 104A. The location management server 104A acquires the location information and stores it in the location information DB 120 (step S10).

  Next, the location management server 104A determines whether or not the wireless communication terminal 200a is out of the communication range in the out-of-service determination unit 111 (step S11). As described above, the out-of-service determination unit 111 determines that the position information acquisition unit 110 cannot acquire the position information of the wireless communication terminal 200a as being out of communication range. If it is determined that it is out of the service area, the process proceeds to step S12. If not, the process returns to acquisition of position information in step S10.

  When the wireless communication terminal 200a is out of service area, the location management server 104A estimates the reason for out of service area (step S12). As described above, the location management server 104A acquires the location information of the wireless communication terminal 200a at the time when the location information was last acquired based on the contents of the location information DB 120 and the map information DB 121 in the terminal state estimation unit 112. Further, the position management server 104A obtains the moving speed of the latest wireless communication terminal 200a from the contents of the position information DB 120 in the terminal state estimation unit 112, and refers to the contents of the case DB 122 shown in FIG. The reason why the wireless communication terminal 200a is out of service area is estimated.

  Subsequently, the location management server 104A predicts a time for returning to the area (step S13). That is, in step S13, if the location information server 104A has information on a place where radio waves from the radio base station 101 can be reached in the map information DB 121, the terminal state estimation unit 112 causes the radio communication terminal 200a currently moving to move. It is estimated whether the above-mentioned estimated movement route is within a range where the above-mentioned radio wave is reachable. Next, the location management server 104A is obtained from the estimated moving speed of the wireless communication terminal 200a calculated from the information of the location information DB 120 and the estimated location information of the wireless communication terminal 200a of the map information DB 121 in the terminal state estimation unit 112. Based on the distance from the point where the wireless communication terminal 200a is out of the service area to the location within the area, the estimated movement time to the area within the area (that is, the scheduled return time to the area) is calculated.

  Finally, the location management server 104A obtains information on the reason for the out-of-service area estimated in Step S12 and information on the estimated return time to the service area estimated in Step S13 from the information transmission unit 114 to the wireless communication terminal 200a. It transmits to the communication terminal 200b. When transmitting information, the information transmission unit 114 uses the call control information acquired from the call control server 102 by the call control information acquisition unit 113, and specifies the wireless communication terminal 200b of the communication partner of the information transmission destination.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the location management server 104A determines that the wireless communication terminal 200a in communication is out of the service area in step S11, the position management server 104A performs the operation in step S12 until the position immediately before becoming out of service area. Since the moving speed of the wireless communication terminal 200a is acquired and compared with the feature on the map of the location (for example, on the track), the reason why the wireless communication terminal 200a is out of the communication range is easy. Can be estimated.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, when the location management server 104A determines that the wireless communication terminal 200a in communication is out of the service area in step S11, the position management server 104A performs the operation in step S13, and the moving speed until immediately before it becomes out of service area. And the travel route of the wireless communication terminal 200a is estimated using the feature on the map of the location, and the distance to the location of the next place on the travel route is acquired. Therefore, it is possible to estimate the estimated return time to the area of the wireless communication terminal 200a until it returns to the area from the information on the moving speed and the distance.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, since the operation of step S14 is performed, the user of the wireless communication terminal 200b as the communication partner returns to the reason why the wireless communication terminal 200a is out of the service area and returns to the service area. You can know the estimated time.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of the second embodiment of the location management server 104 and the wireless communication terminals 200a and 200b. In the figure, the same components as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted as appropriate. In FIG. 6, the location management server 104 </ b> B is a server of the second embodiment of the location management server 104 in FIG. 1, and is connected to the call control server 102 and the media relay server 103 together with the wireless communication terminal 200.

  FIG. 6 shows a state where the wireless communication terminal 200 a and the wireless communication terminal 200 b are communicating, and the respective call control units 210 a and 210 b have established a call via the call control server 102. In addition, the media communication units 211a and 211b of the wireless communication terminal 200a and the wireless communication terminal 200b are connected via the media relay server 103 or directly without passing through the media relay server 103 (portions indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 6), Send and receive media data such as video.

  The location management server 104B has a call control information DB 124 and a map information generation unit 116 added to the configuration of the location management server 104A shown in FIG. 2, and a location information acquisition unit 115 and a call control information acquisition unit. 117 and the operation of the information transmission unit 118 are slightly different from the location information acquisition unit 110, the call control information acquisition unit 113, and the information transmission unit 114 of the location management server 104A, and the storage information of the location information DB 123 is also slightly different from the location information DB 120. Further, in the present embodiment, the wireless communication terminal 200a has a configuration in which a radio wave intensity acquisition unit 220 is added to the configuration of FIG. Further, the radio communication terminal 200b has a configuration in which a map display unit 221 is added to the configuration of FIG.

  Here, functions of blocks different from those in FIG. 2 will be described. The radio field strength acquisition unit 220 of the radio communication terminal 200a acquires information about the strength of communication radio waves from the radio base station 101, and further uses the acquired radio field strength information as position information of the position management server 104B. The data is transmitted to the acquisition unit 115. The position information acquisition unit 115 records the acquired radio wave intensity information in the position information DB 123.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of stored information in the position information DB 123. As shown in the figure, the position information DB 123 is acquired by the time when the information is acquired, the latitude / longitude information acquired as position information from a certain wireless communication terminal (here, terminal A), and the radio wave intensity acquisition unit 220. The received radio wave intensity is stored. As a result, even if the map information DB 121 does not have the location information of the wireless base station 101 or the radio wave reachable location or is incomplete, the terminal state estimation unit 112 can detect the location information DB 123 as shown in FIG. When the stored information of the radio wave became gradually out of service area with the passage of time, it was out of service area due to the distance from the wireless base station 101 not being suddenly generated. This makes it easier to estimate the reason for out of service.

  That is, the case DB 122 adds a radio wave intensity in addition to the moving speed shown in FIG. 4 and, as a reason for out of service area, when the above-mentioned radio field intensity gradually decreases with time and becomes out of service area, suddenly some obstacle In this configuration, the reason for out-of-service is added because the distance from the radio base station 101 has increased.

  In the present embodiment, since the state of the radio wave state can be read from the information in the position information DB 123, the contents of the case DB 122 can be obtained from the information in the map information DB 121 and the radio wave state (for example, the current estimation from the last connected radio base station). It can be set as the structure which estimates the out-of-service reason with high precision combining the information of (distance).

  The call control information DB 124 in the location management server 104B is a database for storing call control information obtained from the call control server 102. When the wireless communication terminal 200a and the wireless communication terminal 200b are communicating and the wireless communication terminal 200a is out of service, the call is disconnected after a certain period of time, and the call control information is deleted. Therefore, when the call control information acquisition unit 117 of the location management server 104B determines that the wireless communication terminal 200a is out of service area and inquires the call control server 102 about the information of the counterpart wireless communication terminal 200b, The call control information of the wireless communication terminal 200b may be deleted.

  However, if the call control information is stored in the call control information DB 124 in advance, even if the information is deleted from the call control server 102, the call control information acquisition unit 117 performs wireless communication based on the stored call control information in the call control information DB 124. The terminal 200b can be specified. Further, if communication is performed between the call control server 102 and the call control information acquisition unit 117 only when a call is established and when a call is deleted, the number of communication messages between them can be reduced.

  The map information generation unit 116 of the location management server 104B has a function of combining the current location of the wireless communication terminal 200a that has become out of service area with map data. When this function is used, the terminal state estimation unit 112 of the location management server 104B calculates the current estimated location of the wireless communication terminal 200a. For this calculation, for example, the estimated moving speed of the wireless communication terminal 200a, the position information acquired last, and the feature amount (such as on the track) on the map are used. The estimated location information may be updated every certain time such as every second. The map information generation unit 116 combines the calculated estimated location with map data including the estimated location extracted from the map information DB 121, and includes the map information from the information transmission unit 118 to the map display unit 221 of the wireless communication terminal 200b. Send. In this case, the map display unit 221 displays the received information on the screen.

  In addition, when the wireless communication terminal 200b has a map display function, the wireless communication terminal 200b uses the information generated by the map information generation unit 116 and the current location information of the wireless communication terminal 200a as the information transmission unit 118. Via the map display unit 221 of the wireless communication terminal 200b. Then, the wireless communication terminal 200b displays a map of the portion including the estimated location on the screen using the map display function and displays the estimated location at the current time acquired from the information transmission unit 118.

  According to the present embodiment, when the location management server 104B determines that one of the two wireless communication terminals in communication (in this case, the wireless communication terminal 200a) is out of service, as with the location management server 104A. The reason for out-of-service when the communication terminal 200a is out of service area is estimated, the estimated time for returning to the service area of the radio communication terminal 200a is estimated, and the estimated information is transmitted to the radio communication terminal 200b of the communication partner. be able to.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the position management server 104B sequentially stores the received radio wave intensity together with the position information of the wireless communication terminal 200a in the position information acquisition unit 115. Even if the map information DB 121 does not have the location information of the wireless base station 101 or the radio wave reachable location or is incomplete, if the radio wave intensity gradually decreases and becomes out of service area, an obstacle is suddenly generated. Instead, it has a feature that it is easy to estimate that it has become out of service area because the distance from the radio base station 101 has increased. Furthermore, more accurate estimation is possible by using map information.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the location management server 104B stores the call control information in the call control information DB 124 in advance, so that even if the information is deleted from the call control server 102, wireless communication determined to be out of service range. The wireless communication terminal 200b that is the communication partner of the terminal 200a can be specified.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, the reason for out-of-service is estimated using the moving speed. In short, it is only necessary to be able to estimate the reason for out-of-service using the movement status.

  The present invention can be applied to a case where one of the participating terminals is a wireless communication terminal in one-to-one two-way communication between wireless communication terminals and two-way communication with a plurality of persons such as a video conference.

100 Network 101 Wireless base station 102 Call control server 103 Media relay server 104, 104A, 104B Location management server 110, 115 Location information acquisition unit 111 Out-of-range determination unit 112 Terminal state estimation unit 113, 117 Call control information acquisition unit 114, 118 Information Transmitter 116 Map information generator 120, 123 Location information DB
121 Map information DB
122 Case DB
124 Call control information DB
200, 200a, 200b Radio communication terminals 210a, 210b Call control units 211a, 211b Media communication unit 213 Location information control unit 214 Communication partner state display unit 220 Radio wave intensity acquisition unit 221 Map display unit

Claims (12)

When a wireless communication terminal is within the communication range of the nearest wireless base station, the wireless base station can communicate with a partner terminal, and the wireless base station is connected to a call control server and a location management server. A communication system,
The location management server
Position information acquisition means for sequentially acquiring position information from the wireless communication terminal;
Position information storage means for storing the position information acquired by the position information acquisition means;
Map information storage means for storing map information in advance;
Out-of-service determining means for determining whether or not the wireless communication terminal is out of service that cannot communicate with the wireless base station;
When the out-of-service determining means determines that the mobile terminal is out of service area, the movement information of the wireless communication terminal is calculated from the change of the position information stored in the position information storage means until just before the out-of-service area, and the movement information and the position information And out-of-service reason estimation means for estimating the reason why the wireless communication terminal is out of service area by comparing with the characteristics on the map around the position of the wireless communication terminal read out from the map information storage means based on
A transmission means for transmitting out-of-service reason estimation information indicating the reason for the out-of-service reason estimated by the out-of-service reason estimation means to a communication partner terminal of the wireless communication terminal based on information obtained from the call control server. ,
The wireless communication terminal is
Position information transmitting means for acquiring position information of the terminal and transmitting the position information to the position management server via the nearest radio base station;
An out-of-service reason estimation information receiving unit that receives the out-of-service reason estimation information transmitted by the out-of-service reason transmission unit. When a wireless communication terminal is within the communication range of the nearest wireless base station, the wireless base station can communicate with a partner terminal, and the wireless base station is connected to a call control server and a location management server. A communication system,
The location management server
Position information acquisition means for sequentially acquiring position information from the wireless communication terminal;
Radio wave intensity acquisition means for sequentially acquiring the received radio wave intensity information from the wireless communication terminal;
Information storage means for storing the position information acquired by the position information acquisition means and the radio wave intensity information acquired by the radio wave intensity acquisition means, respectively;
Map information storage means for storing map information in advance;
Out-of-service determining means for determining whether or not the wireless communication terminal is out of service that cannot communicate with the wireless base station;
When the out-of-service determining means determines that the mobile terminal is out of service area, the movement information of the wireless communication terminal is calculated from the change of the position information stored in the position information storage means until just before the out-of-service area, and the movement information and the position information And the change of the radio wave intensity information read from the information storage means and the feature on the map around the position of the wireless communication terminal read from the map information storage means, the wireless communication terminal is out of service area. Out-of-service reason estimation means for estimating the reason,
A transmission means for transmitting out-of-service reason estimation information indicating the reason for the out-of-service reason estimated by the out-of-service reason estimation means to a communication partner terminal of the wireless communication terminal based on information obtained from the call control server. ,
The wireless communication terminal is
Position information transmitting means for acquiring position information of the terminal and transmitting the position information to the position management server via the nearest radio base station;
Radio wave intensity information transmitting means for acquiring radio field intensity of communication radio waves from the nearest radio base station and transmitting the radio field intensity to the location management server via the nearest radio base station;
An out-of-service reason estimation information receiving unit that receives the out-of-service reason estimation information transmitted by the out-of-service reason transmission unit. The location management server
A map around the position of the wireless communication terminal read out from the map information storage unit based on the position information stored in the position information storage unit until immediately before becoming out of range when the out-of-range determination unit determines that it is out of range. By comparing with the above characteristics, a range return point estimation means for estimating a future travel route of the wireless communication terminal and estimating a range return point that can be within the next range on the estimated travel route;
The movement status of the wireless communication terminal calculated based on the change in the position information stored until immediately before going out of the area in the position information storage means, and the area estimated by the area return point estimation means from the point out of the area Within-range return predicted time calculating means for calculating the travel time to the within-range estimated point from the distance to the estimated point as the within-range return predicted time;
The wireless communication system according to claim 1, further comprising: the transmission unit that transmits the estimated return time within the area together with the out-of-service reason estimation information to a terminal of a communication partner of the wireless communication terminal. The location management server
Call control information storage means for storing call control information obtained from the call control server;
4. The transmission unit according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit specifies a communication partner terminal of the wireless communication terminal based on the call control information stored in the call control information storage unit. A wireless communication system according to item. The location management server
A composite map that generates composite map information by combining the current location of the wireless communication terminal that has become out of service area with the map information read from the map information storage means when the out-of-range determination means determines that it is out of range. Further comprising information generating means,
The wireless communication terminal further includes map display means for displaying the composite map information,
5. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit transmits the composite map information together with at least the out-of-service reason estimation information to a communication partner terminal of the wireless communication terminal. .   6. The radio according to claim 1, wherein the out-of-service reason estimation unit has the out-of-service reason estimation information set in advance for each of a plurality of moving speed ranges as the movement status. Communications system. When a wireless communication terminal is within the communication range of the nearest wireless base station, the wireless base station can communicate with a partner terminal, and the wireless base station is connected to a call control server and a location management server. A wireless communication method for a communication system, comprising:
The wireless communication terminal acquires position information of its own terminal and transmits to the position management server via the nearest wireless base station;
A location information acquisition step in which the location management server sequentially acquires the location information transmitted from the wireless communication terminal;
A location information storage step in which the location management server stores the location information acquired in the location information acquisition step;
Out-of-service determination step for determining whether the location management server is in an out-of-service state where the wireless communication terminal cannot communicate with the wireless base station;
When the location management server determines that it is out of range in the out-of-range determination step, it calculates the movement status of the wireless communication terminal from the change in the location information stored until immediately before out-of-range in the location information storage step, and Out-of-range reason for estimating the reason why the wireless communication terminal is out of service area by comparing with the features on the map around the position of the wireless communication terminal read out from the map information storage means based on the movement status and the position information An estimation step;
The location management server transmits out-of-service reason estimation information indicating the reason for the out-of-service reason estimated in the out-of-service reason estimation step to a communication partner terminal of the wireless communication terminal based on information obtained from the call control server. Sending step to
A wireless communication method, comprising: an out-of-service reason estimation information receiving step in which the wireless communication terminal receives the out-of-service reason estimation information transmitted in the out-of-service reason transmission step. When a wireless communication terminal is within the communication range of the nearest wireless base station, the wireless base station can communicate with a partner terminal, and the wireless base station is connected to a call control server and a location management server. A wireless communication method for a communication system, comprising:
The wireless communication terminal acquires position information of its own terminal and transmits to the position management server via the nearest wireless base station;
The radio communication terminal acquires radio field intensity of communication radio waves from the nearest radio base station and transmits the radio field intensity information to the location management server via the nearest radio base station, and
The position management server sequentially acquires the position information transmitted from the wireless communication terminal in the position information transmission step;
A radio wave intensity acquisition step in which the location management server sequentially acquires the radio wave intensity information transmitted in the radio wave intensity information transmission step from the wireless communication terminal;
An information storage step for storing the position information acquired in the position information acquisition step and the radio wave intensity information acquired in the radio wave intensity acquisition step;
Out-of-service determination step for determining whether the location management server is in an out-of-service state where the wireless communication terminal cannot communicate with the wireless base station;
When the location management server determines that it is out of range in the out-of-range determination step, calculates the movement status of the wireless communication terminal from the change in the location information stored until immediately before out-of-range in the location information storage step, By comparing the movement status, the position information, the change in the radio wave intensity information stored in the information storage step and the feature on the map around the position of the wireless communication terminal read from the map information storage means, the wireless Out-of-service reason estimation step for estimating the reason why the communication terminal is out of service;
The location management server transmits out-of-service reason estimation information indicating the reason for the out-of-service reason estimated in the out-of-service reason estimation step to a communication partner terminal of the wireless communication terminal based on information obtained from the call control server. Sending step to
A wireless communication method, comprising: an out-of-service reason estimation information receiving step in which the wireless communication terminal receives the out-of-service reason estimation information transmitted in the out-of-service reason transmission step. When the position management server determines that it is out of range in the out-of-range determination step, the wireless read out from the map information storage unit based on the position information stored until immediately before out-of-range in the position information storage step Estimate the future movement path of the wireless communication terminal by comparing with the map features around the position of the communication terminal, and estimate the area return point that can be in the next area on the estimated movement path A point estimation step;
The location management server estimates the return point within the range from the movement status of the wireless communication terminal calculated based on the change in the location information stored until immediately before going out of range in the location information storage step, and the point out of range A predicted range return time calculating step for calculating a travel time to the range estimated point as a range return predicted time from the distance to the range estimated point estimated in step;
The wireless communication method according to claim 7, further comprising: transmitting the in-range return predicted time together with the out-of-service reason estimation information to a terminal of a communication partner of the wireless communication terminal.   The location management server further includes a call control information storage step for storing call control information obtained from the call control server, and the transmission step is based on the call control information stored in the call control information storage step, The wireless communication method according to claim 7, wherein a communication partner terminal of the wireless communication terminal is specified.   When the location management server determines that the wireless communication terminal is out of service area by the out-of-service determining step, the current location of the wireless communication terminal that has become out of service area is combined with the map information read out from the map information storage means, and a composite map The synthetic map information generation step which generates information is further included, and the transmission step transmits the synthetic map information together with at least the out-of-service reason estimation information to a terminal of a communication partner of the wireless communication terminal. The wireless communication method according to claim 1.   The wireless communication according to any one of claims 7 to 12, wherein in the out-of-service reason estimation step, the out-of-service reason estimation information is preset for each speed range of a plurality of moving speeds as the movement state. Communication method.

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