JP6214688B2 - Information processing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus.

  An information processing apparatus such as a notebook type portable computer (hereinafter referred to as “notebook PC”) on which a WWAN (wireless wide area network) card is mounted is a WWAN constructed by using a communication network of a cellular phone. Data communication is possible (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2013-110482 A

Generally, a WWAN card mounted on a notebook PC supports only one SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module Card) and cannot support a plurality of SIM cards. Therefore, for example, when the user wants to switch the telecommunications carrier (carrier) used for data communication, it is necessary to replace the SIM card mounted on the notebook PC each time.
In order to eliminate the need for replacement of the SIM card, it may be possible to install a WWAN card corresponding to each SIM card. In this case, however, an increase in the size and cost of the apparatus is inevitable.
The communication module mounted on the notebook PC is a PCI Express M.M. It is stipulated that it conforms to the standard No. 2, and it is impossible to directly apply a communication module mounted on a mobile phone or the like.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and the user does not replace the memory card in which the subscriber information such as the SIM card or the information of the telecommunications carrier is stored without performing data exchange. An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus capable of switching a telecommunications carrier used for communication.

The present invention relates to a plurality of memory cards storing area identification information for identifying subscriber information of a wireless communication network and an operation area of a telecommunications carrier, a communication module selectively connected to the memory card, and a position Using the location information acquisition means for acquiring information, correspondence information in which the region identification information and the operation region information of the telecommunications carrier are associated, and the region identification information stored in each memory card, The mounted card information creating means for creating the mounted card information in which the identification information of the memory card and the operation area information of the telecommunications carrier are associated, and the position information acquiring means using the mounted card information. selection means for selecting the memory card to the operation region information including the position information is associated, the connection destination of the communication module before An information processing apparatus and a connection switching means for switching the memory card selected by the selecting means.

  According to the present invention, based on the telecommunications carrier information stored in a plurality of memory cards, the memory card to be connected to the communication module is selected by the control means, and the selected memory card and the communication module are switched in connection. Connected by means. As described above, since the memory card connected to the communication module is switched by the connection switching means, it becomes possible for the user to easily switch the telecommunications carrier used for data communication without exchanging the memory card. .

  According to the present invention, it is possible to switch a telecommunications carrier used for data communication without a user exchanging a memory card storing information of a telecommunications carrier such as a SIM card. Have.

It is a functional block diagram which shows schematic structure of the information processing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed an example of the MCC / MNC correspondence table. It is the flowchart which showed the process sequence of the SIM selection process which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed an example of mounting SIM information.

  An embodiment of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a case where a notebook PC is exemplified as the information processing apparatus will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a notebook PC 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The notebook PC 10 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a main memory 12, a storage unit 13, a display unit 14, an input unit 15, a communication unit 16, and a position information acquisition unit 17. These units are connected to each other directly or indirectly through a bus.

  For example, the CPU 11 controls the notebook PC 10 as a whole by an OS (Operating System) stored in the storage unit 13 connected via the bus, and executes various programs stored in the storage unit 13. For example, a SIM selection process to be described later is executed.

  The main memory 12 includes a writable memory such as a cache memory and a RAM (Random Access Memory). The main memory 12 is used as a work area for reading an execution program of the CPU 11 and writing processing data by the execution program.

  The storage unit 13 is, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a flash memory, or the like. For example, a notebook PC 10 such as Windows (registered trademark), iOS (registered trademark), Android (registered trademark), or the like. An OS for performing overall control, various drivers for operating hardware of peripheral devices, applications directed to specific tasks, various data and files, and the like are stored.

In addition, the storage unit 13 stores a program for realizing a SIM card selection process, which will be described later, and various data necessary for realizing the SIM card selection process. More specifically, the storage unit 13 stores an MCC / MNC correspondence table as shown in FIG. Here, MCC (Mobile Country Code) is a code indicating the operation area of the telecommunications carrier, and MNC (Mobile Network Code) is a code identifying the telecommunications carrier. FIG. 2 shows an example of the MCC / MNC correspondence table. As shown in FIG. 2, the MCC / MNC correspondence table is information in which a combination of MCC and MNC is associated with telecommunications carrier (carrier) and telecommunications carrier operational area information (country / region). .
The display unit 14 is, for example, a liquid crystal display device, and performs display according to the control of the CPU 11.
The input unit 15 is a keyboard, a mouse, or the like, for example, and is used by the user to perform an input operation.

The communication unit 16 includes, for example, a chip set 21, a first card slot 22, a plurality of second card slots 23, 24, and 25, a connection switching unit 26, and the like.
The chip set 21 is a sub chip that functions as a south bridge, and includes, for example, SATA, USB, PCI Express, and the like.
A first card slot 22 is connected to the chip set 21. For example, either a 4G card or a 3G card WWAN card 31 is installed in the first card slot 22 as a communication module.
In each of the second card slots 23, 24, 25, a memory card storing subscriber information of the wireless communication network is mounted. In the present embodiment, SIM cards (Subscriber Identity Module Cards) 32, 33, and 34 are mounted as memory cards. In the present embodiment, the case of having three second card slots is illustrated, but the number of second card slots may be two or more, and the number is not particularly limited.

  The SIM cards 32, 33, and 34 store, for example, user attribute information such as a subscriber's address, name, and subscription contents, an address, a telephone number, and the like as subscriber information of the wireless communication network. Furthermore, SIM cards 32, 33, and 34 store MCC, MNC, and the like as telecommunications carrier information.

Between the first card slot 22 and the second card slots 23, 24, 25, a connection switching unit 26 for switching the SIM card to which the WWAN card 31 is connected is provided. The card 31 is alternatively connected to any one of the SIM cards 32, 33, and 34. The connection switching unit 26 is configured by, for example, a multiplexer, an analog switch, or the like.
The position information acquisition unit 17 acquires the current position. Specifically, the position information acquisition unit 17 includes a processing unit that acquires position information from GPS (Global Positioning System) or information (for example, base station information) from a network.

  Next, SIM selection processing executed by the notebook PC 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the SIM selection processing. Various processes shown in FIG. 3 are realized by, for example, the CPU 11 (control unit) executing a SIM selection program stored in the storage unit 13. The SIM selection process is executed when the notebook PC 10 is activated, for example.

  First, the MCC / MNC of the SIM cards 32 to 34 installed in the second card slots 23 to 25 are respectively read (step SA1), and the country / region and the telecommunications carrier information corresponding to the read MCC / MNC are obtained. Obtained from the MCC / MNC correspondence table stored in the storage unit 13 (step SA2). Subsequently, the installed SIM information in which the acquired country / region and telecommunications carrier information is associated with the SIM card identification information is created (step SA3).

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the installed SIM information. In FIG. 4, the SIM card 32 storing the information of “USA” telecommunications carrier A is installed in the second card slot 23, and the information of “Japan” telecommunications carrier B is stored in the second card slot 24. The mounted SIM information when the stored SIM card 33 is installed and the SIM card 34 storing the information of the telecommunications carrier C of “China” is installed in the second card slot 25 is illustrated.

Next, referring to the installed SIM information, a SIM card having country / region information corresponding to the position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 17 is selected (step SA4: selection means). For example, if the position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 17 is in Japan, the SIM card 33 in the second card slot 24 is selected from the mounted SIM information shown in FIG.
Subsequently, it is determined whether or not there is one SIM card selected in step SA4 (step SA5). If there is one (“YES” in step SA5), the selected SIM card is replaced with a WWAN card. (Step SA6: setting means). On the other hand, when there are a plurality of selected SIM cards (“NO” in step SA5), the telecommunications carrier information of the selected SIM card is displayed on the display unit 14 to notify the user (step SA7: notification means). ). Then, when input information for selecting any one SIM card is input from the input unit 15 by the user, the SIM card selected by the user is set as the connection destination of the WWAN card (step SA8: setting means). When one SIM card is set in this way, based on this setting instruction, the connection switching unit 26 switches the connection destination of the WWAN card to the SIM card set in step SA6 or step SA8 (step SA9). ).

  As a result, the WWAN card 31 and any one SIM card are electrically connected. By starting the operation of the WWAN card in this state, data communication using the WWAN suitable for the current region becomes possible.

  As described above, the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes the plurality of second card slots 23 to 25 in which the plurality of SIM cards 32 to 35 are mounted, and each of the plurality of SIM cards 32-35. Since any one SIM card is selected based on the stored telecommunications carrier information and the location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit 17 and the selected SIM card is connected to the WWAN card, the user can It is possible to switch to a SIM card suitable for the current region without exchanging the SIM card.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using the said embodiment, the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. Various changes or improvements can be added to the above-described embodiment without departing from the gist of the invention, and embodiments to which the changes or improvements are added are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, when a plurality of SIM cards are selected, the user is allowed to select any one SIM card. Instead, the priority order of each SIM card is registered in advance. In addition, when a plurality of SIM cards are selected, the SIM card with the highest priority may be selected.

10 Notebook PC (information processing device)
11 CPU
12 main memory 13 storage unit 14 display unit 15 input unit 16 communication unit 17 position information acquisition unit 21 chip set 22 first card slot 23-25 second card slot 31 WWAN card 32-34 SIM card

Claims (5)

A plurality of memory cards storing subscriber information of a wireless communication network and area identification information for identifying an operation area of a telecommunications carrier;
A communication module selectively connected to the memory card;
Position information acquisition means for acquiring position information;
Using the correspondence information in which the region identification information and the operation region information of the telecommunications carrier are associated and the region identification information stored in each memory card, the identification information of each memory card and the telecommunications business Onboard card information creating means for creating onboard card information associated with the user's operational area information,
Selecting means for selecting the memory card associated with the operation area information including the position information acquired by the position information acquiring means using the mounted card information;
An information processing apparatus and a connection switching unit that switches a connection destination of the communication module to the memory card selected by the selection means.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position information acquisition unit is a global positioning system. When a plurality of the memory card is selected by the previous SL selecting means, according to claim 1 or claim 2 comprising a notification means for notifying the telecommunications service provider information of a plurality of the memory card selected by the user Information processing device. The mounted card information includes a priority order of each of the memory cards,
Wherein said connection switching means, when a plurality of the memory card is selected by the selecting means, among the memory card selected shall be the connection destination of the highest memory card of the priority the communication module The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication module conforms to a communication standard for a wireless wide area network.

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