JPH11146448A - Portable telephone communication method and system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow a user to easily and surely recognize communication availability at the time of utilization in a transceiver mode. SOLUTION: A transmission part 20 of a slave unit terminal 6 of a PHS transmits control signals with a time interval. Then, the reception part 8 of a slave unit terminal 4 receives the control signals transmitted by the slave unit terminal 6 of the PHS and an electric field strength detection part 10 detects the electric field strength of a received radio wave by the control signals received by the reception part 8. A comparison part 12 compares the detected result of the electric field strength with a reference value, and when the electric field strength is smaller than the reference value, outputs alarm signals for indicating to the effect. When the comparison part 12 outputs an alarm signal, a reception control part 24 makes a sounder 16 generate an alarm sound, and reports to a user that the electric field strength at present is close to communicable limit electric field strength.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication method performed between slave terminals of a personal handyphone system operable in a transceiver mode, and a mobile telephone communication system including a plurality of the slave terminals. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A PHS (Personal Handy Phone) developed as a portable telephone, particularly a second generation cordless telephone.
System) can communicate at low cost,
It is spreading rapidly. By the way, many of the PHS handset terminals on the market can also operate in the transceiver mode,
Such a PHS slave terminal can be used not only as a telephone but also as a transceiver.

[0003]

However, conventionally, for example, when two PHS slave terminals are used in the transceiver mode and the PHS slave terminal is in a standby state,
Whether or not they are within a communicable distance can only be known by actually calling one of the slave terminals from the other. Therefore, when the user is moving, the user may go beyond the communicable distance without noticing and may not be able to contact at all. Also, in order to avoid such a loss of communication, the other party must be called frequently to check whether communication is possible, which is inconvenient. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile phone communication system that enables a user to easily and reliably grasp whether or not communication is possible when using the transceiver mode. It is to provide a method and a system.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a communication method performed between slave terminals of a personal handyphone system operable in a transceiver mode. A control signal is transmitted from the slave terminal at a time interval, and the second slave terminal receives the control signal transmitted by the first slave terminal and reduces the electric field strength of the received radio wave. The detected electric field strength is compared with a reference value, and an alarm sound is generated when the electric field strength is smaller than the reference value. Also,
The present invention relates to a mobile telephone communication system including a plurality of slave terminals of a personal handyphone system operable in a transceiver mode, wherein the first slave terminal has a temporal function when in a standby state. A transmitting unit that transmits a control signal at intervals, the second slave terminal receives a control signal transmitted by the first slave terminal, a receiving unit,
According to the control signal received by the receiving unit, an electric field intensity detecting unit that detects the electric field intensity of the received radio wave, the electric field intensity detected by the electric field intensity detecting unit is compared with a reference value, and the electric field intensity is the reference value. A comparing unit that outputs an alarm signal indicating that the sound signal is smaller when the sound signal is smaller, a sounder that generates an alarm sound, and a first control unit that causes the sounder to generate an alarm sound when the comparing unit outputs the alarm signal. A configuration was provided.

According to the portable telephone communication method of the present invention, in the standby state, the control signal is transmitted from the first slave terminal at a time interval, and the second slave terminal transmits the control signal to the first slave terminal. The terminal receives the control signal transmitted by the terminal and detects the electric field strength of the received radio wave. Then, the detected electric field strength is compared with the reference value, and when the electric field strength is smaller than the reference value, an alarm sound is generated. Further, in the mobile phone communication system of the present invention, when the transmitting unit of the first slave terminal is in a standby state,
The control signal is transmitted at an interval in time, the receiving unit of the second handset terminal receives the control signal transmitted by the first handset terminal, and the electric field strength detecting unit receives the control signal. The electric field intensity of the received radio wave is detected by the control signal. The comparing section compares the electric field strength detected by the electric field strength detecting section with the reference value, and outputs an alarm signal indicating that the electric field strength is smaller than the reference value. The first control unit causes the sounder to generate an alarm sound when the comparison unit outputs an alarm signal.
Therefore, if the reference value is set to a value slightly higher than the limit electric field strength at which the slave terminals can communicate in the transceiver mode, for example, the user of the second slave terminal can
Before communication becomes impossible, it is possible to easily and surely recognize from the alarm sound that the current electric field intensity is close to the limit electric field intensity at which communication is possible.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on embodiments with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a mobile phone communication system according to the present invention. The mobile phone communication system 2 includes two PHS handset terminals 4 and 6 and performs communication between the two handset terminals in the transceiver mode based on the mobile phone communication method of the present invention. In the following, with reference to FIG. 1, the functions related to the transceiver mode of the mobile phone communication system 2 will be mainly described, and at the same time, the embodiment of the mobile phone communication method of the present invention will be described.

[0007] In the transceiver mode, the handset terminals 4 and 6 can communicate using any one of ten channels having different frequencies. The center frequency of each channel is 1895.15 MHz for one channel, and 300 KHz for the frequency of the previous channel after the second channel.
Has been added.

First, the configuration of the slave terminal 4 will be described. The slave terminal 4 includes a reception unit 8, an electric field strength detection unit 10, a comparison unit 12, a control unit 14, a sounder 16, and a handset 1.
8, a transmission unit 20, and an antenna 22. Receiver 8
Receives the radio wave transmitted from the slave terminal 6 through the antenna 22. Then, the received signal is amplified to a required level, further demodulated, and output to the control unit 14 and the electric field strength detection unit 10. The electric field intensity detecting unit 10 receives the control signal from the slave terminal 6 received by the receiving unit 8 and detects the electric field intensity of the received radio wave at the antenna position. The comparison unit 12 compares the electric field intensity detected by the electric field intensity detection unit 10 with a reference value, and outputs an alarm signal indicating that the electric field intensity is smaller than the reference value. In this embodiment, the reference value is set to a value slightly higher than the limit electric field strength at which the slave terminals can communicate in the transceiver mode, specifically, for example, 26 dBμV.

The control unit 14 includes a reception control unit 24 and a transmission control unit 26. The reception control unit 24 (a first control unit according to the present invention) decodes the signal from the reception unit 8 and converts the audio signal into an audio signal. Generated and supplied to the handset 18 and the comparing unit 1
When the alarm signal 2 is output, the sounder 16, which is a small sound generator, is driven to generate an alarm sound.
The transmission control unit 26 (a second control unit according to the present invention) encodes the audio signal from the handset 18 and
When the comparison unit 12 outputs the alarm signal, the alarm signal is encoded and supplied to the transmission unit 20 in the same manner as the audio signal. The transmission unit 20 modulates a carrier of an available channel with the audio signal and the alarm signal encoded by the transmission control unit 26, and
To send through.

Next, the configuration of the slave terminal 6 will be described. The slave terminal 6 includes a receiving unit 28, a control unit 30, a sounder 16, a handset 18, a transmitting unit 20, and an antenna 22. The receiving unit 28 receives the radio wave transmitted from the slave terminal 4 through the antenna 22. Then, the received signal is amplified to a required level, further demodulated, and output to the control unit 30. The control unit 30 includes a reception control unit 32 and a transmission control unit 34. The reception control unit 32 (a third control unit according to the present invention) decodes a signal from the reception unit 28 to generate an audio signal, When the signal is supplied to the handset 18 and the signal from the receiving unit 28 includes the alarm signal, the sounder 16 is driven to generate an alarm sound.

The transmission control unit 34 encodes the audio signal from the handset 18 and supplies the encoded signal to the transmission unit 20 in a call state, and generates a control signal at a time interval in a standby state. And supplies it to the transmission unit 36. The transmitting unit 20 modulates a carrier of an available channel with the audio signal and the control signal from the transmission control unit 26, and transmits the modulated carrier to the slave terminal 4 via the antenna 22.

Next, the operation of the portable telephone communication system 2 configured as described above will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mobile phone communication system 2. Hereinafter, this flowchart will be referred to as appropriate. First, PHS
The operation when a call is made in the transceiver mode by the slave terminals 4 and 6 will be described. In this case, for example, when the user inputs voice through the handset 18 of the slave terminal 6, the handset 18 outputs the voice signal to the transmission control unit 34, and the transmission control unit 34 encodes the voice signal from the handset 18 and This is supplied to the transmission unit 36. The transmitting unit 36 uses a vacant channel among the 10 channels, modulates the carrier with the coded audio signal from the transmission control unit 34, and modulates the modulated carrier through the antenna 22 to the slave terminal 4. Send to.

On the other hand, in the handset terminal 4, the receiving section 8 receives this signal through the antenna 22, generates a demodulated and encoded voice signal, and outputs it to the reception control section 24. The reception control unit 24 decodes this signal to reproduce an audio signal, and supplies the reproduced audio signal to the handset 18. As a result, the user can hear the voice from the handset 18. The operation is basically the same when transmitting from the slave terminal 4 to the slave terminal 6, and the user of the slave terminals 4, 6 is operated by the respective units of the slave terminals 4, 6 operating as described above. Can talk to each other.

Next, the operation in the standby mode in the transceiver mode will be described. At this time, the transmission control unit 34 of the slave terminal 6 generates a control signal having a predetermined amplitude at a time interval. FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing control signals. As shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, the control signal has a width of 625 .mu.
The transmission control unit 34 generates a control signal with a period of 10 s. The transmission unit 36 modulates a carrier of an available channel by the control signal generated by the transmission control unit 34, and directs the antenna 2 to the slave terminal 4.
2 (step S1).

On the other hand, in the slave terminal 4, the receiving unit 8 receives the carrier modulated by the control signal through the antenna 22,
The control signal is demodulated and output to the electric field strength detector 10 (Step S2). The receiving unit 8 is notified from the receiving control unit 24 whether or not the apparatus is in the standby state. When the receiving unit 8 is in the standby state, the receiving unit 8 intermittently performs the receiving operation of each channel. FIG. 4 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the receiving unit 8 in the standby state. The reception control pulse shown in FIG. 4 is a pulse internally generated by the reception unit 8, and when the reception control pulse is a logic "0", the reception unit 8 outputs 1 to 10
, And the receiving operation is performed by switching the channels (1ch, 2ch,..., 10ch). Specifically, the period during which the reception control pulse is at logic "0" is, for example, about 100 ms, and in this period, each channel is switched every about 10 ms. In this embodiment, the reception control pulse becomes logic "0" in a cycle of 2 s. The receiving unit 28 of the slave terminal 6
Also performs the receiving operation basically in the same manner as the receiving unit 8 of the slave terminal 4.

Here, for example, if the handset terminal 6 is transmitting a control signal on channel 1, the receiving unit 8 receives and demodulates the control signal when performing a receiving operation on channel 1, and as a result, , The control signal is the electric field strength detector 10
Supplied to The electric field intensity detection unit 10 detects the electric field intensity at the antenna position based on the amplitude of the control signal (step S3), and the comparison unit 12 outputs the electric field intensity detection unit 10
Is the electric field strength detected and the reference value, that is, 2 in this embodiment.
If the electric field intensity is smaller than the reference value (YES in step S4), an alarm signal indicating that fact is output.

When the comparator 12 outputs the alarm signal, the reception controller 24 drives the sounder 16 to generate an alarm sound (step S5). The reception control unit 24 also encodes the alarm signal from the comparison unit 12 into a specific code, and supplies it to the transmission unit 20 at the same timing as the control signal shown in FIG. 3, for example. The transmitting unit 20 modulates a carrier of an available channel with the alarm signal encoded by the transmission control unit 26, and directs the antenna 22 to the slave terminal 6.
(Step S6).

In the slave terminal 6, the receiving section 28 receives the carrier including the alarm signal, demodulates the alarm signal, and demodulates the received signal.
2 (step S7). And the reception control unit 32
Determines whether the signal from the receiving unit 28 includes an alarm signal encoded to a specific code (step S
8) If an alarm signal is included (YES), the sounder 16 is driven to generate an alarm sound (step S).
9) If no alarm signal is included (NO), the transmission control unit 34 and the transmission unit 20 continue transmitting the control signal (step S1).

As described above, in the portable telephone communication system 2 of the present embodiment, the control signal is transmitted from the slave terminal 4, and the slave terminal 6 receives the electric field strength of the radio wave by the control signal transmitted by the slave terminal 4. Is detected. Then, the detected electric field strength is compared with the reference value, and when the electric field strength is smaller than the reference value, an alarm sound is generated, and the fact that the electric field strength is smaller than the reference value is notified to the slave terminal 6 by an alarm signal. Thus, an alarm sound is also generated at the slave terminal 6. Therefore, in the mobile phone communication system 2 of the present embodiment, the slave terminals 4, 6
For example, in the case where the user communicates as needed while moving, for example, before communication becomes impossible, an alarm sounds to confirm that the current electric field strength is close to the limit electric field strength at which communication is possible. Can be easily and reliably grasped,
They can communicate with each other before communication becomes impossible, or stay within the communication distance.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a mobile phone communication system according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mobile phone communication system of FIG. In the drawings, the same elements and steps as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

The portable telephone communication system 38 shown in FIG.
However, the difference from the mobile telephone communication system 2 of the above embodiment is that the transmission control unit 44 of the control unit 42 (the fourth control unit according to the present invention) in the slave terminal 40 corresponding to the slave terminal 4
Further has a function of automatic calling, while the handset terminal 46 corresponding to the handset terminal 6 has a function in which the sounder 16 is deleted and the reception control unit 50 of the control unit 48 activates the sounder 16. There is no point.

The transmitting unit 20 modulates a carrier of an available channel with the control signal generated by the transmission control unit 34,
The data is transmitted to the slave terminal 40 via the antenna 22 (step S1). On the other hand, in the slave terminal 40, the receiving section 8 demodulates the control signal and outputs it to the electric field strength detecting section 10 (step S2), and the electric field strength detecting section 10 detects the electric field strength based on the amplitude of the control signal. (Step S3). Then, the comparing unit 12 compares the electric field intensity detected by the electric field intensity detecting unit 10 with the reference value (step S4), and when the electric field intensity is smaller than the reference value (YES in step S4), an alarm indicating that fact. Output a signal.

When the comparison section 12 outputs the alarm signal, the reception control section 24 drives the sounder 16 to generate an alarm sound (step S5). An outgoing call is made via the transmitting unit 36 using the telephone number (step S10). As a result, the slave terminal 4
At 6, the receiving unit 28 receives the transmission signal from the slave terminal 40 and supplies the signal to the reception control unit 50. As a result, the reception control unit 50 performs an incoming call operation (step S11), and a call can be made between the child device terminals 40 and 46 (step S12).

As described above, in the portable telephone communication system 38 according to the second embodiment, when the user of the slave terminal 40 communicates as needed while moving, for example, it is determined that communication is impossible. Before this, it is possible to easily and surely recognize from the alarm sound that the current electric field intensity is close to the limit electric field intensity at which communication is possible. Further, at the same time as the alarm is generated, a call is automatically made to the slave terminal 46, so that the user of the slave terminal 46 can be contacted before the call becomes impossible.

Although the present invention has been described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments and can be implemented in various forms. For example, in the first embodiment, the slave terminal 4 transmits an alarm signal to the slave terminal 6, and the slave terminal 6 receives the alarm signal and generates an alarm sound. Does not transmit an alarm signal to the slave terminal 6, and therefore the slave terminal 6 does not generate an alarm sound. In this case, although the user of the slave terminal 6 cannot directly know whether or not the call becomes impossible, the user of the slave terminal 4 calls the slave terminal 6 and calls the slave terminal 6. No. 6 users can be notified.

[0026]

As described above, according to the portable telephone communication method of the present invention, in the standby state, the control signal is transmitted from the first slave terminal at a time interval, and the second slave is transmitted. The terminal receives the control signal transmitted by the first slave terminal and detects the electric field strength of the received radio wave. Then, the detected electric field strength is compared with the reference value, and when the electric field strength is smaller than the reference value, an alarm sound is generated. Further, in the mobile phone communication system of the present invention, the transmitting unit of the first slave terminal transmits a control signal at intervals in a standby state, and the receiving unit of the second slave terminal is , The control signal transmitted by the first slave terminal is received, and the electric field strength detecting section detects the electric field strength of the received radio wave based on the control signal received by the receiving section. The comparing section compares the electric field strength detected by the electric field strength detecting section with the reference value, and outputs an alarm signal indicating that the electric field strength is smaller than the reference value. The first control unit causes the sounder to generate an alarm sound when the comparison unit outputs an alarm signal. Therefore, if the reference value is set, for example, to a value slightly higher than the limit electric field strength at which the slave terminals can communicate in the transceiver mode, the user of the second slave terminal cannot communicate. Before this, it is possible to easily and surely recognize from the alarm sound that the current electric field intensity is close to the limit electric field intensity at which communication is possible. As a result, it is possible to communicate with each other before communication becomes impossible, or to stay within a communication distance.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a mobile phone communication system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of the mobile phone communication system.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing control signals.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart illustrating an operation of a receiving unit in a standby state.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile phone communication system according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation of the mobile phone communication system of FIG. 5;

[Description of Signs] 2, 38: Mobile phone communication system, 4, 6, 40, 4
6 ... slave terminal, 8, 28 ... receiving unit, 10 ... electric field strength detecting unit, 12 ... comparator, 14, 30, 42, 48 ...
... Control unit, 16 ... Sounder, 18 ... Handset,
20: transmitting section, 22: antenna, 24, 32, 50
...... Reception control unit, 26, 34, 44 ... Transmission control unit.

Claims (8)

[Claims] A communication method performed between slave terminals of a personal handyphone system operable in a transceiver mode, wherein a time interval is provided from a first slave terminal in a standby state. A control signal is transmitted, and the second slave terminal receives the control signal transmitted by the first slave terminal, detects an electric field strength of a received radio wave, and detects the detected electric field strength and a reference value. And generating an alarm sound when the electric field strength is smaller than the reference value. 2. The second slave terminal, as a result of comparing the detected electric field intensity with the reference value, when the electric field intensity is smaller than the reference value, transmits an alarm signal, and 2. The mobile phone communication method according to claim 1, wherein the slave terminal generates an alarm sound when the alarm signal is received. 3. The second handset terminal, as a result of comparing the detected electric field strength with the reference value, when the electric field strength is smaller than the reference value, the second handset terminal uses the telephone number registered in advance to store the second electric field strength. 2. The mobile phone communication method according to claim 1, wherein an automatic call is made to one of the slave terminals. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reference value is the electric field strength which slightly exceeds the electric field strength of a limit at which the slave terminals can communicate in the transceiver mode.
The described mobile phone communication method. 5. A mobile telephone communication system including a plurality of slave terminals of a personal handyphone system operable in a transceiver mode, wherein the first slave terminal is in a standby state. A transmission unit that transmits a control signal at a time interval, the second slave terminal receives the control signal transmitted by the first slave terminal, and a reception unit that receives the control signal. According to the control signal, an electric field intensity detecting unit that detects an electric field intensity of a received radio wave, comparing the electric field intensity detected by the electric field intensity detecting unit with a reference value, and when the electric field intensity is smaller than the reference value, And a sounder that generates an alarm sound; and a first controller that causes the sounder to generate an alarm sound when the comparator outputs the alarm signal. Mobile telephone communication system, wherein the door. 6. The second slave terminal further includes a second control unit that transmits an alert signal through a transmission unit when the comparison unit outputs the alert signal, wherein the first slave terminal is The mobile phone according to claim 5, further comprising: a sounder that generates an alarm sound; and a third control unit that generates an alarm sound in the sounder when the alarm signal is received through a receiving unit. Telephone communication system. 7. The second handset terminal automatically makes a call to the first handset terminal via a transmitting unit using a telephone number registered in advance when the comparison unit outputs the alarm signal. The mobile telephone communication system according to claim 5, further comprising a fourth control unit. 8. The mobile telephone communication system according to claim 5, wherein the reference value is an electric field intensity slightly higher than a limit electric field intensity at which the slave terminals can communicate in the transceiver mode.