JP2002111914A - Public telephone system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a public telephone system in which service can be provided using a public telephone by locating the public telephone automatically. SOLUTION: A portable telephone comprises a first transmitting/receiving section of short distance radio communication for detecting an available public telephone, and a first control section for starting service with the public telephone in a short distance radio communication mode through the first transmitting/receiving section of short distance radio communication and performing charging operation by receiving charging information from the public telephone upon finishing the service. The public telephone comprises a second transmitting/receiving section of short distance radio communication for transmitting a response signal upon receiving the detection signal from an accessible portable telephone, and a second control section for starting service with the portable telephone in the short distance radio communication mode through the second transmitting/receiving section of short distance radio communication after the response signal is transmitted and transmitting the charging information to the portable telephone upon finishing the service.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a public telephone system and, more particularly, to a public telephone system capable of communicating with a public telephone using short-range wireless communication.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When making a call using a public telephone, it is necessary to search for a public telephone in the vicinity. Also, to make a call using a public telephone,
It is necessary to prepare coins and telephone cards in advance. In addition, if a public telephone cannot be found due to the spread of mobile phones in recent years, it is possible to make a call using the mobile phone. And call charges will be higher. On the other hand, a method of communicating with a public telephone using a portable information processing device by a wireless system for a short distance is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-16 / 1988.
No. 4720. In this method, a public telephone and a portable information processing device are provided with a wireless communication unit for a short distance, respectively, and a telephone call is made by a wireless communication through these communication units.

[0003]

In the conventional public telephone system, it is necessary to search for a public telephone in the vicinity by itself, which is troublesome. In addition, it is necessary to prepare coins, telephone cards, and the like for calls in advance, which is inconvenient.
Also, in the method described in the above-mentioned publication, it is necessary to confirm in advance where available public telephones are. The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems of the conventional public telephone system, and automatically detects the position of the public telephone by placing a short-range wireless communication transceiver in the mobile telephone to perform a telephone call. It aims to provide a public telephone system that can be enabled.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided a public telephone system having a portable telephone which is wirelessly connected to a public telephone network via one of a public telephone and a portable telephone base station. A first short-range wireless communication transceiver for transmitting a detection signal for detecting an available public telephone, and receiving a response signal from the available public telephone, and after receiving the response signal, A call is started in a short-range wireless mode with the available public telephone via the short-range wireless communication transmitting / receiving unit, and charging processing is performed by receiving charging information from the public telephone at the end of the call. A control unit, wherein the public telephone has a second short-range wireless communication transmitting / receiving unit that transmits the response signal when receiving the detection signal from an accessible mobile phone; After transmitting the answer signal, a call is started in the short-range wireless mode with the accessible mobile phone via the second short-range wireless communication transmission / reception unit, and the mobile phone is A second control unit for transmitting the billing information.

Further, the present invention provides a portable telephone wirelessly connected to a public telephone network via one of a public telephone and a portable telephone base station, and transmits a detection signal for detecting an available public telephone. A first short-range wireless communication transmitting / receiving unit for receiving a response signal from an available public telephone, and after the response signal is received, the first short-range wireless communication transmitting / receiving unit A first control unit for starting a telephone call with the public telephone in the short-distance wireless mode, receiving charging information from the public telephone after the telephone call, and performing a charging process.

Further, according to the present invention, in a public telephone which connects the portable telephone to a public telephone network in response to access from the portable telephone, a response signal is transmitted when a detection signal from the accessible portable telephone is received. A second short-range wireless communication transmitting / receiving unit, and after transmitting the response signal, a call in a short-range wireless mode with the accessible mobile phone via the second short-range wireless communication receiving unit A second control unit for starting and transmitting billing information to the mobile phone at the end of the call.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the present invention, Bluetooth (Bl
A public telephone system is configured by employing a low-power short-range wireless communication method called “e.g. Prior to describing an embodiment of the present invention, a low-power short-range wireless communication system will be described.

[0008] Bluetooth is a system for performing short-distance two-way wireless communication between a master (server) and a slave (client). The frequency band does not require a special license, and can be used in common in almost all the world in ISM (2.
(4 GHz band). In this wireless communication system,
An ID number is individually assigned so that a specific terminal can be identified. The ID number is stored in a volatile memory so that it cannot be rewritten. Also, it has a function of detecting that a communication partner has entered a communication area before performing data communication. Then, after detecting the communication partner, it determines whether or not the connection partner is selected or is suitable as the connection partner, and performs connection processing (calling) for performing data communication.

Next, a connection method between the master and the slave will be described. FIG. 4 shows a flowchart in the case where an unspecified terminal having the same function is detected and the user determines until connection. Assuming that the mobile phone to be detected is a master, the master has a detection and connection button. When the connection process starts (step 401) and the detection button is pressed (step 402), the master transmits a detection signal (step 403) and waits for a response signal from the slave (public telephone).

[0010] The side to be detected (slave: public telephone) periodically performs a receiving operation to receive the detection signal.
Upon receipt of the detection signal, it sends back its own ID number and possession function to the master as a response signal. When the master successfully receives the response signal (step 404), it compares the master function with the slave function (step 405). If the comparison results match, the ID number of the terminal having the same function is displayed on the display (step 406). Thereafter, when the user desires to connect, the master selects a connection partner and presses a connection button, so that the master enters a connection process and starts data communication (steps 407 to 410).

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a piconet. By configuring a link centered on a master called a piconet, point-multipoint communication becomes possible. When the communication connection is started, the master assigns a temporary address to the slave. The slave determines from the received address whether it is addressed to itself, and if it is addressed to itself, takes in the data; otherwise, it discards it. Even during the data communication between the master and the slave, the slave can be added at any time by executing the terminal detection and connection procedure in the communication area.

Further, at the end of data communication, the temporary address assigned to the slave can be discarded. By repeating addition and release of slaves in a time-sharing manner, communication with a large number of terminals becomes possible. Further, a security function is added to the communication between the master and the slave. Therefore, the master and the slave each have an input device for inputting a password and a display for displaying the input character. When a terminal starts a communication connection, the terminal has a security function that permits connection only when the same password is input. After detecting that the communication partner has entered the communication area and making a connection, the communication partner is usually in a communication state and exchanges data periodically. When data exchange is performed, if the state in which data transmitted from the other party cannot be received continues for a certain period of time, by judging that the communication partner has left the area, both terminals can detect out-of-area. .

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a public telephone system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the portable telephone has a short-range wireless communication transceiver 3 in addition to the conventional functions. Public telephone 6
Also has a short-range wireless communication transceiver 7 in addition to the conventional functions. The low-power short-range wireless communication by Bluetooth described above is performed between the transceivers 3 and 7. In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone 1 serves as a master, and the public phone 6 serves as a slave. The mobile phone 1 is a mobile phone base station 1 connected to a public telephone network 12.
1 can configure a normal mobile phone system.

The public telephone 6 is connected to the public telephone network 12 and has a function as a normal public telephone. The mobile phone 1 includes a mobile phone transceiver 2 for performing communication with the mobile phone base station 11, a mobile phone control unit 4, and a voice processing unit 5. The mobile phone control unit 4 normally switches to the mobile phone transceiver 2 side to perform a mobile phone transmission / reception operation. The public telephone 6 includes a public telephone receiver 8, a public telephone control unit 9, and a display unit 10. The public telephone control unit 9 normally switches to the public telephone handset 8 side, and operates as a normal public telephone. When the mobile phone 1 becomes the master and the public phone 6 becomes the slave and performs the Bluetooth operation, the control unit 4 is switched to the short-range wireless communication transceiver 3, and the control unit 9 is switched to the short-range wireless communication transceiver. 7 is switched.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the Bluetooth operation of the portable telephone device 1, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the Bluetooth operation of the public telephone 6. When making a call from the mobile phone 1, the mobile phone control unit 4 uses the short-range wireless communication transceiver 3 to provide a public telephone 6 having the function of a short-range wireless communication transceiver 7 in the vicinity.
Search for If found, mobile phone 1 and public phone 6
The processing shifts to a process of making a call using the short-range wireless communication method (Bluetooth). The mobile phone control unit 4 switches the audio signal from the audio processing unit 5 to the short-range wireless communication transceiver 3 side. The public telephone control unit 9 switches from the public telephone receiver 8 to the short-range wireless communication transceiver 7 side, and displays on the display unit 10 that the public telephone 6 is currently in use by Bluetooth.

Next, the operation of the portable telephone 1 will be described with reference to FIG. Usually, at the start (Step 20
1) The mobile phone control unit 4 is connected to the mobile phone transceiver 2 and performs a conventional mobile phone operation (step 2).
02). Next, when a short-range wireless communication transmission command is issued (step 203), the mobile phone control unit 4 detects whether or not there is an available public telephone nearby using the short-range wireless communication transceiver 3. Is transmitted (step 204). Normally, short-range wireless communication by the Bluetooth method is performed at a very short distance of several meters to several tens of meters. When an available public telephone is within the communication range, a response signal indicating the availability is received from public telephone 6 (step 205). Upon receiving this response signal, the mobile phone control unit 4 is switched to the short-range wireless communication transceiver 3 and starts talking in the short-range wireless mode (step 20).
6). After the end of the call, charging information is received from the public telephone 6 and charging processing is performed (step 207). Step 2
If no response signal is received from the public telephone 6 in 05, the mobile telephone control unit 4 switches to the mobile telephone transceiver 2 side to make a call in the conventional mobile telephone mode (step 208).

Next, the operation of the public telephone 6 will be described with reference to FIG. At normal start (Step 30
1) The public telephone control unit 9 has switched to the public telephone handset 8 and performs the conventional public telephone operation (step 30).
2). When a detection signal is received from the accessible mobile phone 1 (step 303), a response signal is transmitted (step 304), and a display indicating that the mobile phone 1 is being used in the short-range wireless mode is displayed (step 305). ).

Next, the public telephone controller 9 switches to the short-range wireless communication transceiver 7 and starts talking in the short-range wireless mode (step 306). Pay phone 6 at the end of the call
Transmits billing information to the mobile phone 1 (step 30).
7). Note that when the mobile phone 1 and the public telephone 6 end the call in the short-range wireless mode, the mobile phone 1 and the public telephone 6 return to the normal mobile telephone operation and the public telephone operation. Note that, in the above-described embodiment, a case in which a telephone call is performed is shown. However, if a data communication modem is mounted on a mobile phone, data communication becomes possible.

[0019]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, when a public telephone is in the vicinity, a call can be made from a portable telephone using the public telephone network, so that the call charge can be reduced. In addition, since the mobile phone preferentially searches for a public telephone that can be used when making a call, the user does not need to search for the public telephone by himself. Furthermore, even when a call is made via a public telephone, the call can be made without cash because the charge is simply added to the conventional call charge of the mobile phone.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a public telephone system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mobile phone in the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the public telephone in the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a connection method using Bluetooth.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a piconet using Bluetooth.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 mobile phone 2 transceiver for mobile phone 3 transceiver for short-range wireless communication 4 mobile phone controller 5 audio processor 6 public telephone 7 transceiver for short-range wireless communication 8 public telephone receiver 9 public telephone control unit 10 display unit 11 Mobile phone base station 12 Public telephone network

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F-term (reference)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A public telephone system comprising a portable telephone connected wirelessly to a public telephone network via one of a public telephone and a portable telephone base station, wherein the portable telephone detects an available public telephone. For transmitting a detection signal for receiving a response signal from an available public telephone, and a transmission / reception unit for the first short-range wireless communication after receiving the response signal. A first control unit for starting a call in a short-distance wireless mode with the available public telephone through the unit, receiving charging information from the public telephone at the end of the call, and performing a charging process; The public telephone includes: a second short-range wireless communication transmitting / receiving unit that transmits the response signal when receiving the detection signal from the accessible mobile phone; A call is started in the short-range wireless mode with the accessible mobile phone via the second short-range wireless communication transceiver, and the charging information is transmitted to the mobile phone at the end of the call. A public telephone system comprising a second control unit. 2. A portable telephone which wirelessly connects to a public telephone network via one of a public telephone and a portable telephone base station, transmits a detection signal for detecting an available public telephone, and A first short-range wireless communication transmitting and receiving unit that receives a response signal from a public telephone; and a communication between the available public telephone via the first short-range wireless communication transmitting and receiving unit after receiving the response signal. A mobile phone, comprising: a first control unit that starts a telephone call in a short-range wireless mode between the public telephones and that performs a charging process by receiving charging information from the public telephone after the telephone call ends. 3. A public telephone which wirelessly connects the mobile telephone to a public telephone network in response to an access from the mobile telephone, wherein a second neighborhood transmitting a response signal when receiving a detection signal from the accessible mobile telephone. And starting a call in a short-range wireless mode with the mobile phone accessible via the second short-range wireless communication receiver after transmitting the response signal, A public telephone provided with a second control unit for transmitting billing information to the portable telephone at the time of termination.