JP2000307760A - Communication unit and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a communication unit that reduces a communication charge by setting a more proper monitor reference time in response to a communication distance and to obtain a recording medium. SOLUTION: This communication unit A is provided with a non communication monitor section 3 that monitors no communication state where no communication data are communicated after line connection and requests line interruption when a time continuing no communication state reaches a monitor reference time, and the non communication monitor section 3 is provided with a monitor reference time setting section 4 that sets a monitor reference time in response to charge rate information received from a network at dialing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication device such as a router and a modem connected to a public communication line and a recording medium, and more particularly, to a non-communication state in which communication data is not transmitted after a line connection for a certain period of time. The present invention relates to a communication device and a recording medium capable of automatically disconnecting a public communication line when the above is continued.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, public telephone lines and ISDN (Inte
For a public communication line such as a grated Services Digital Network (Grated Services Digital Network) line, a charging system is provided which charges according to the communication distance and the line usage time. Therefore, the communication device connected to the public communication line is equipped with a function to automatically disconnect the public communication line when communication data is not transmitted or received for a certain period of time to reduce communication charges. ing.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram showing a configuration of a network communication system using a conventional communication device.
(B) is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional communication device. As shown in FIG. 4A, a conventional communication device B is a public communication line (WAN) such as a public telephone line or an ISDN line.
(Wide Area Network) line 20 and a plurality of terminals 21
And a device such as a router provided between a LAN (Local Area Network) 22 connected to the LAN. As shown in FIG. 4B, a conventional communication device B includes a routing unit 23 for relaying communication data between networks, and a call control unit for performing line connection in response to a line connection request from the routing unit 23. 24, and a non-communication monitoring unit 25 that monitors a non-communication state in which communication of communication data is not performed after the line is connected. The non-communication monitoring unit 25 measures the non-communication duration during which the non-communication state continues, and when the non-communication duration reaches the set monitoring reference time, issues a line disconnection request to the call control unit 24. And disconnects the communication path.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-343082 discloses that when a non-communication continuation time between local area networks after a communication path is established reaches a monitoring reference time, a public communication line between local area networks is established. An inter-network connecting device that disconnects a communication path through the inter-network, the inter-network connecting device including a monitoring reference time setting unit that sets the monitoring reference time based on communication distance information in a network number is disclosed. ing. According to this conventional network connection device, the above-mentioned monitoring reference time is set based on communication distance information (for example, a local area code, an area code, etc.) in a network number.

[0005]

In the conventional communication device B, the monitoring reference time is fixed to a constant value. As a result, the communication fee until reaching the monitoring reference time is longer in the case of long-distance communication than in the case of short-distance communication, and it is possible to set the optimum monitoring reference time according to the communication distance. Can not.

Further, when the communication destination is a mobile communication such as a mobile phone, it is difficult to set a monitoring reference time because the charging unit time is unknown.

On the other hand, in the network connection apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-343082, the monitoring reference time can be changed according to the communication distance. However, since the monitoring reference time is set based on whether or not the local area code and area code of the communication source match the local area code and area code of the communication destination, the area code of the communication source and destination Are different from each other, the same monitoring reference time is set even if the communication distances are different. Therefore, it cannot be said that an optimum monitoring reference time cannot always be set.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and a communication apparatus and a recording apparatus capable of reducing a communication charge by setting a more appropriate monitoring reference time according to a communication distance. The purpose is to provide a medium.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A communication apparatus of the present invention monitors a non-communication state in which communication of communication data is not performed after a line is connected, and a time during which the non-communication state continues is defined as a monitoring reference time. A communication reference device that has a non-communication monitoring unit that requests a disconnection of a line when the communication time has reached, and has a monitoring reference time setting unit that sets a monitoring reference time according to the rate information notified from the network at the time of calling. It is a feature.

[0010] The recording medium of the present invention monitors a non-communication state in which communication of communication data is not performed after the line is connected. A program for causing a computer to execute a process of setting a monitoring reference time according to rate rate information notified from a network when a call is made, on a recording medium on which a non-communication monitoring program for performing a disconnection process is recorded. It is a feature.

According to the present invention, the monitoring reference time can be set according to the rate information notified from the network at the time of calling.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1A, a communication device A according to the present invention includes a routing unit 1 for relaying communication data between networks and a line connection in response to a line connection request from the routing unit 1. It has a call control unit 2 for performing communication and a non-communication monitoring unit 3 for monitoring a non-communication state in which communication of communication data is not performed after the line connection. The non-communication monitoring unit 3 measures the non-communication continuation time during which the non-communication state continues, and when the non-communication continuation time reaches the set monitoring reference time, issues a line disconnection request to the call control unit 2. And disconnects the communication path.

The non-communication monitoring unit 3 is, for example, 22.5 seconds /
It has a monitoring reference time setting unit 4 for setting a monitoring reference time according to charge rate information including charging information such as 10 yen, 10 seconds / 10 yen. The charge rate information is notified by a charge advance notification service provided by the network. The fee advance notification service is a service in which, in response to a "call" from a calling user, the network notifies the calling user of rate information on the "call" as a message.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present invention. First, when communication data to be routed occurs in the routing unit 1 and it becomes necessary to connect a line, the routing unit 1 issues a line connection request to the call control unit 2. Upon receiving the line connection request, the call control unit 2 performs line connection (step S1).

Next, the charge rate notification information of the network notifies the call control unit 2 of the charge rate information from the network (step S2).

The call control unit 2 sends the notified rate information to the non-communication monitoring unit 3 (step S3).

Next, the monitoring reference time setting unit 4 of the non-communication monitoring unit 3 sets the charging unit time in the sent rate information as the monitoring reference time (step S4). For example, as shown in the table of FIG. 1B, when charging is performed at a charge rate of 22.5 seconds / 10 yen, the monitoring reference time is 22.
When set to 5 seconds and charged at a rate of 10.0 seconds / 10 yen, the monitoring reference time is set to 10.0 seconds. The data of the monitoring reference time for the toll rate may be stored in the memory 5 in the wireless communication monitoring unit 3 in advance.

Next, every time there is communication data to be routed, the routing unit 1 notifies the non-communication monitoring unit 3 that routing has been performed. The non-communication monitoring unit 3
It is determined whether or not the non-communication continuation time during which the non-communication state in which the communication of the communication data is not performed after the line connection is continued has reached the monitoring reference time (step S5).

If the non-communication continuation time has reached the monitoring reference time, a request is made to the call control unit 2 to disconnect the line (step S6). If the non-communication continuation time has not reached the monitoring reference time, it is determined whether or not the communication of the communication data has been completed (step S7), and if not, the process returns to step S5.

According to the present invention, the monitoring reference time can be set in accordance with the charge rate information notified from the network at the time of calling, so that the communication charge can be reduced.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The second embodiment has a recording medium 10 on which a program (a non-communication monitoring process program) for causing a computer to execute the above-described non-communication monitoring process is recorded. The recording medium 10 may be a magnetic disk, a CD-ROM, a semiconductor memory, or another recording medium.

The non-communication monitoring program is stored in the recording medium 1
0 to the non-communication monitoring unit 3
Executes a process of setting a monitoring reference time according to the charge rate information notified from the network at the time of calling, according to a non-communication monitoring process program.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various changes can be made within the scope of the technical matters described in the claims. For example, in the embodiment of the present invention, the charging unit time is used as it is as the monitoring reference time. However, according to the present invention, the monitoring unit time is derived by substituting the charging unit time into a predetermined formula. Alternatively, this formula may be changed according to the unit price.

[0025]

According to the present invention, the monitoring reference time can be set according to the charge rate information notified from the network at the time of calling, so that the communication charge can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for describing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a network communication system using a conventional communication device, and FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional communication device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A: Communication device S1 to S7: Step 1: Routing unit 2: Call control unit 3: Non-communication monitoring unit 4: Monitoring reference time setting unit 5: Memory 10: Recording medium 20: WAN 21: Terminal 22: LAN 23: Routing Unit 24: call control unit 25: non-communication monitoring unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04M 15/02 H04L 13/00 313 5K067 H04Q 7/38 H04Q 7/04 H 5K101 F-term (Reference) 5K025 AA08 CC01 KK03 5K027 BB01 GG08 KK03 5K030 GA20 HB08 HB15 HB19 HC01 HD03 JA09 JA10 KA02 KA21 LB03 MB09 5K034 AA14 DD03 EE12 EE13 HH65 KK21 QQ06 5K035 AA05 BB04 DD01 EE00 HH07 KK01 DD01 LL00 LL03 NN48 RR25 TT01

Claims (2)

[Claims] The present invention monitors a non-communication state in which communication of communication data is not performed after a line is connected, and when a time during which the non-communication state continues reaches a monitoring reference time, a non-communication state for requesting a line disconnection. A communication device comprising a communication monitoring unit, comprising: a monitoring reference time setting unit configured to set the monitoring reference time according to charge rate information notified from a network when a call is made. 2. A non-communication state in which communication of communication data is not performed after the line is connected is monitored, and a line disconnection process is performed when the time during which the non-communication state continues reaches a monitoring reference time. A recording medium on which a communication monitoring program is recorded, on which a program for causing a computer to execute a process of setting the monitoring reference time according to rate information notified from a network at the time of calling is recorded.