JP2002135472A - Radio facsimile system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a facsimile system for connection to a radio public network that has a function equivalent to that of a facsimile terminal connected to a wired public network. SOLUTION: The radio facsimile terminal 20 acts like a master unit of a mobile phone terminal 10 connectable to a radio base station 30. In a usual mode, the mobile phone terminal can directly be wirelessly connected to the radio base station. In a slave unit mode, an access terminal ID is given to the radio facsimile terminal so as to allow the radio facsimile terminal to be directly connected to the radio base station 30 and the mobile phone terminal can be connected to the radio base station 30 only through the radio facsimile terminal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a radio facsimile system having a portable telephone terminal and a facsimile apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A facsimile machine is a machine for printing on paper of a predetermined size.
It is impossible to make it portable. Therefore, a normal facsimile apparatus is configured to connect to a wired public network.

[0003] However, with the spread of mobile phones, the number of people who do not make a contract for connection to a wired public network has increased, and it has been desired to realize facsimile communication using a wireless public network.

Therefore, a facsimile apparatus connected to a portable telephone using a special connection cable has been developed, and facsimile communication using a wireless public network has been realized.

[0005]

However, the conventional facsimile apparatus connected to a portable telephone has a problem that the portable telephone must be operated to perform transmission and reception. In other words, in this type of facsimile machine,
Before transmitting and receiving facsimile information, the mobile phone terminal must be operated. Therefore, advanced functions such as automatic transmission / reception are realized as realized by a facsimile apparatus connected to a wired public network. And it is very inconvenient.

Here, as a method of solving the above problem,
It is conceivable to develop a wireless facsimile device that can be directly wirelessly connected to the wireless public network, but in order to connect this wireless facsimile device to the wireless public network, apart from the mobile phone terminal with the wireless public network operator. A connection contract (connection terminal ID) is required.

[0007] Therefore, the present invention provides a portable telephone terminal that can be used with a connection contract for one portable telephone terminal, can execute facsimile communication, and realizes functions equivalent to those of a facsimile apparatus connected to a wired public network. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a facsimile system.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 7-336766 has a wireless communication means capable of simultaneously using wireless communication channels corresponding to a plurality of lines. When facsimile information is received from a certain wireless communication channel, another wireless communication channel is used. A technology for immediately transferring the data to the nearest facsimile machine via the Internet is disclosed. However, this technology is based on the premise that the transfer destination facsimile is connected to a wired public telephone network, and attempts to realize facsimile communication with a connection contract for one mobile phone terminal as in the present invention. Completely different from the ones.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a wireless facsimile system in which one of a portable telephone terminal and a wireless facsimile apparatus is a master unit and the other is a slave unit, and the master unit is connected to a wireless public network. Wireless connection, and a first communication unit for wireless connection with the slave unit, wherein the slave unit has at least a second communication unit for wireless connection with the master unit. A characteristic wireless facsimile system is obtained.

In the present system, when the wireless facsimile apparatus is a master unit and the portable telephone terminal is a slave unit, the second communication means can wirelessly connect to the wireless public network. Further, in this case, the first communication means has a detection unit for detecting a specific frequency signal, and the first communication unit detects the specific frequency signal until a predetermined time elapses after a line with the wireless public network is connected. When a signal cannot be detected, a line connection with the slave unit is made while maintaining the connection line with the wireless public network.

In the present system, when the portable telephone terminal is a master unit and the radio facsimile apparatus is a slave unit, the first communication means has a detecting unit for detecting a specific frequency signal. When the specific frequency signal is detected before a predetermined time elapses after the line with the wireless public network is connected, the line connection with the slave unit is maintained while maintaining the connection line with the wireless public network. Perform

In this system, a multiplexing technique is used in order to perform line connection with the slave unit while maintaining a connection line with the wireless public network.

According to the present invention, one of the portable telephone terminal and the wireless facsimile apparatus can be wirelessly connected as a master unit and the other as a slave unit, and the master unit is directly connected to the wireless public network by wireless. By making a wireless connection to the wireless public network via the base unit, the mobile phone terminal and the wireless facsimile apparatus can be connected to the wireless public network using a single connection terminal ID. Thus, a method for connecting to a wireless public network is obtained.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a wireless facsimile system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. This wireless facsimile system has a mobile phone terminal 10 and a wireless facsimile device 20.

The mobile phone terminal 10 is, like a general mobile phone, connected to a wireless public network operator to establish a wireless connection so that direct wireless communication 101 with the wireless base station 30 of the wireless public network is possible. It has a communication unit (not shown).
This wireless communication unit also carries out terminal-to-terminal communication 103 with the wireless facsimile machine 20. In the terminal-to-terminal communication 103, the slave unit is registered with the wireless facsimile machine 20, and a telephone call is also made. In addition, the mobile phone terminal 10
It has a mode control unit not shown. The mode control unit is 2
Switching control is performed between two communication modes, that is, a normal mode and a slave unit mode.

The radio facsimile apparatus 20 has a radio communication unit 21 and a facsimile transmission / reception unit 22 which is almost common to a general facsimile apparatus. The wireless communication unit 21
A wireless transmission unit 211, a modulation unit 212, a wireless reception unit 213,
Demodulation section 214, frequency detection section 215, and switching section 21
6,217. Further, the wireless communication unit has a line control unit (not shown). This wireless communication unit 21
Under the control of the line control unit, the wireless communication 1
02, the terminal-to-terminal communication with the mobile phone terminal 10 is possible at the same time. Frequency detection section 215 detects a signal of a predetermined frequency, that is, a facsimile initial identification signal, from the received signal demodulated by demodulation section 214. Switching units 216, 21
In the initial state, the wireless communication unit 21 and the facsimile transmission / reception unit 22 are connected, but in response to the switching signal from the frequency detection unit 215, the reception signal output from the demodulation unit 214 is modulated. Switch connection to be sent to

Next, the operation of the wireless facsimile system will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
Here, it is assumed that the wireless facsimile apparatus 20 is installed in a specific place (for example, the home of the user of the mobile phone terminal 10).

First, it is assumed that the mobile phone terminal 10 is in the normal mode. In this mode, the mobile phone 1
0 indicates that the wireless communication 101 can be directly performed with the wireless base station 30 as a normal mobile phone. That is, in this mode, the mobile phone terminal 10 can communicate with another telephone via the wireless public network.

The upper part of FIG. 2 shows a case where there is an incoming call 201 from the radio base station 30 to the portable telephone terminal 10. In this case, the mobile phone terminal 10 transmits an incoming response 202 to the wireless base station 30 in response to the incoming call 201. As a result, a call channel is established between the wireless base station 30 and the mobile phone terminal 10, and a call 203 is realized.

On the other hand, the radio facsimile apparatus 20 monitors a mode switching signal transmitted from the mobile phone terminal 10 while the mobile phone terminal is in the normal mode. In this mode, the radio facsimile machine 20
Wireless communication 102 cannot be performed, and facsimile communication cannot be performed.

In the portable telephone terminal 10, when a specific operation is performed, for example, when a mode switching button is pressed or a connection to a charger is made, the mode control unit transmits a mode switching signal through a terminal-to-terminal control channel. Mobile phone terminal 10
Is within a communicable distance with the wireless facsimile apparatus 20, the wireless facsimile apparatus 20 receives the mode switching signal. The radio facsimile apparatus 20 that has received the mode switching signal transmits a response signal to the mobile phone terminal 10. When receiving a response signal from the wireless facsimile device 20, the mode control unit of the mobile phone terminal 10 transmits information necessary for connection to the wireless public network, for example, the connection terminal ID and the like to the wireless facsimile device 20. Upon receiving the connection terminal ID and the like and completing various settings, the wireless facsimile apparatus 20 notifies the mobile phone terminal 10 of the completion of mode switching. (The above is the slave unit registration 204 in FIG. 2).

When the handset registration 204 is completed, the terminal connectable to the radio base station 30 is not the mobile phone terminal 10 but the radio facsimile apparatus 20. Then, the radio facsimile apparatus 20 immediately thereafter performs the location registration update 205 on the radio base station 30. At this time,
The mobile phone terminal 10 is in the slave mode, and can communicate with the wireless facsimile apparatus 20 between the terminals.
Wireless communication with the wireless base station 30 cannot be performed directly.

A case where an incoming call from the radio base station 30 is received in this state will be described. As shown in the lower part of FIG. 2, when there is an incoming call 206 from the radio base station 30, the radio facsimile 20 makes an incoming call response 207, a communication channel is established between the radio base station 30 and the radio facsimile apparatus 20, and a call is made. 208 becomes possible.

When the communication channel is established, the reception signal received by the radio reception unit is demodulated by the demodulation unit 214 and sent to the facsimile transmission / reception unit 22 via the switching unit 217. At this time, the frequency detector 215 monitors the demodulated received signal output from the demodulator 214. This monitoring is performed for a predetermined time after the establishment of the communication channel.

When the frequency detector 215 detects a predetermined frequency signal in the received signal, that is, the facsimile initial identification signal, the frequency detector 215 notifies the facsimile transmitter / receiver 22 of that fact. At this time, the frequency detection unit 215 controls the switching units 216 and 217 to maintain the connection between the wireless communication unit 21 and the facsimile transmission / reception unit 22.

The facsimile transmission / reception section 22 receives the detection notification from the frequency detection section 215 and performs a facsimile communication operation (reception operation).

On the other hand, if the facsimile initial identification signal is not detected within the predetermined time, the frequency detector 215
Controls the switching units 216 and 217 so that the received signal output from the demodulation unit 214 is sent to the modulation unit 212. At the same time, the frequency detector 215 notifies the line controller (not shown) of the fact.

The line control unit establishes a communication channel for realizing inter-terminal communication with the mobile phone terminal 10 while maintaining the communication channel with the radio base station 30. For this purpose, the line control unit of the radio facsimile machine 20 generates an incoming call 209 and transmits the incoming call 209 to the mobile phone terminal 10 through the inter-terminal control channel.

When the portable telephone terminal 10 receives the incoming call 309 from the radio facsimile machine 20, the incoming call response 31
0 is transmitted to the wireless facsimile machine 20. Thus, a communication channel is established between the wireless facsimile machine 20 and the mobile phone terminal 10.

Here, a communication channel used for inter-terminal communication 103 between the radio facsimile apparatus 20 and the mobile phone terminal 10 is set according to a communication channel used for radio communication 102 with the radio base station 30. . More specifically, as a multiplexing method for the wireless base station 30 to simultaneously communicate with a plurality of mobile phone terminals, a TDMA method (Time Division
When Multiple Access (time division multiple access) is adopted, the radio facsimile apparatus 20 also communicates with the radio base station 30 and the mobile phone terminal 10 at the same time by the TDMA method.

In the TDMA system, as shown in FIG. 3A, the radio base station 30 divides a communication channel into fixed time widths called time slots and allocates the channels to respective terminals. Here, an example is shown in which four frames on the transmitting side and four time slots on the receiving side constitute one frame. Assuming that the first slot (indicated by a solid line) is assigned to both the radio facsimile apparatus 20 for transmission and reception, the line control unit of the radio facsimile apparatus 20 detects an empty slot of the assigned communication channel, and A slot is assigned to the mobile phone terminal 10. For example, FIG.
As shown in (1), the radio facsimile apparatus 20 allocates a third slot (indicated by a solid line) for both transmission and reception.

As described above, the radio facsimile apparatus 20 can establish a communication channel with the mobile phone terminal 10 while maintaining the communication channel with the radio base station 30. Then, the wireless facsimile machine 20
A call signal from the wireless base station 30 is sent to the mobile phone terminal 10,
A call signal from the mobile phone terminal 10 is transferred to the wireless base station 30. As a result, the mobile phone terminal 10 can communicate with another telephone connected to the wireless public network via the wireless facsimile device 20.

Note that the radio facsimile apparatus 20 is configured as shown in FIG.
In the case of (c), the speech signal received in the first slot must be transmitted in the third slot, and the speech signal received in the third slot must be transmitted in the first slot. That is,
It is not necessary to transmit the received call signals in the order in which they were received. Therefore, the wireless facsimile device 20
Has a reception buffer and a transmission buffer for two channels in the radio reception unit 213 and the radio transmission unit 211, respectively. Then, the line control unit controls the read timing from the reception buffer and the transmission buffer.

When transmitting facsimile information,
Facsimile transmitting / receiving unit 22 of wireless facsimile apparatus 20
By directly operating the buttons etc. provided in
A communication channel is established with the wireless base station 30 to enable facsimile communication. The same applies to the case of transmission by the automatic transmission function.

When a call is made from the mobile phone terminal 10, if a dial operation of the mobile phone terminal 10 is performed,
The wireless communication unit transmits a dial signal or the like to the wireless facsimile apparatus 20 through the terminal-to-terminal control channel. The line control unit 21 of the radio facsimile apparatus 20 makes a call to the radio base station 30 instead of the mobile phone terminal 10,
Establish a communication channel with the wireless base station. Thereafter, when a predetermined time elapses, the frequency detection unit 215 controls the switching units 216 and 217 so that the demodulation unit 214 and the modulation unit 2
12 is connected. On the other hand, the line control unit, based on the communication channel established with the radio base station 30,
A communication channel is established with the mobile phone terminal 10.

As described above, the portable telephone terminal 10
Even in the handset mode, a call can be made with another telephone connected to the wireless public network.

The transition from the slave mode to the normal mode is performed by depressing a mode switching button provided on the portable telephone terminal 10. When the mode switching button is depressed, the wireless communication unit of the mobile phone terminal 10 outputs a mode switching signal to the wireless facsimile device 20 via the inter-terminal control channel. The radio facsimile apparatus 20 that has received the mode switching signal transmits
The necessary information is transmitted to the mobile phone terminal 10. Connection terminal I
The mobile phone terminal 10 that has received D notifies the wireless facsimile device 20 of the completion of the mode shift and updates the location registration with the wireless base station 30.

As described above, the portable telephone terminal 10
The mode is shifted to the normal mode, and thereafter, direct wireless communication with the wireless base station 30 can be performed in the same manner as a normal mobile phone. In addition, the wireless facsimile device 20 again
The mode switching signal from the mobile phone terminal 10 is monitored.

As described above, according to the wireless facsimile system according to the present embodiment, an automatic transmission / reception operation using a wireless public network is possible only by a connection contract for one portable telephone terminal. The facsimile machine can be used, and a mobile phone terminal can be used.

Next, a radio facsimile system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

The radio facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 4 has a portable telephone terminal 40 and a radio facsimile apparatus 50.

The portable telephone terminal 40A has a wireless communication section 41, and can wirelessly communicate with the wireless base station 30 and the wireless facsimile apparatus 50. Here, the wireless communication unit 41 is configured as shown in FIG.
Like the wireless communication unit 21, the wireless communication unit 411 includes a wireless transmission unit 411, a modulation unit 412, a wireless reception unit 413, a demodulation unit 414, a frequency detection unit 415, and switching units 416 and 417. In this embodiment, since the connection portable ID is not transferred and the facsimile transmission / reception unit is not controlled, the configuration of the wireless communication unit 41 is simpler than that of the wireless communication unit 21. Be transformed into

The radio facsimile apparatus 50 includes a radio unit 5
1, a modulation unit 52, and a facsimile transmission / reception unit 53, and can wirelessly communicate with the mobile phone terminal 40A.

Next, the operation of the wireless facsimile system will be described.

The portable telephone terminal 40 can perform direct wireless communication 401 and 403 with the wireless base station 30 irrespective of its position, similarly to a general portable telephone. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when the mobile phone terminal 40 receives an incoming call 501 from the radio base station 30 as shown in FIG.
An incoming response 502 is returned to the wireless base station 30, whereby a communication channel with the wireless base station 30 can be established, and a call 503 becomes possible.

When the frequency detecting section 415 detects the facsimile initial identification signal within a predetermined time after the establishment of the communication channel, the frequency detecting section 415 switches the switching sections 416 and 417 to switch the demodulation section 414 from the receiver to the modulation section. 412
And the microphones are disconnected from each other, and the demodulation unit 414 and the modulation unit are connected. Then, a line controller (not shown) establishes a communication channel with the radio facsimile apparatus 402 through the inter-terminal control channel. That is, the wireless communication unit 4
The line control unit 1 controls the wireless facsimile device 50
A new incoming call 504 is transmitted.

Radio section 51 of radio facsimile apparatus 50
Receives the incoming call 504 from the mobile phone terminal 40,
The incoming call response 505 is transmitted to the mobile phone terminal 40 through the inter-terminal control channel. Thus, a wireless channel is established between the mobile phone terminal 40 and the wireless facsimile device 50, and a call 506 is enabled. That is, the mobile phone terminal 40
Transfers the signal sent from the wireless base station 30 to the wireless facsimile device 50 and transfers the signal sent from the wireless facsimile device 50 to the wireless base station 30.

When transmission is performed from the radio facsimile apparatus 50, a call between the radio base station 30 and the mobile telephone terminal 40 is made in the same manner as in the first embodiment in which a call is made from the mobile telephone terminal 10. A channel is established, and the cellular phone terminal 40 and the radio facsimile device 50
This can be realized by establishing a communication channel between.

Also in the present embodiment, the portable telephone terminal 4
As a technique for establishing a communication channel with the radio facsimile apparatus 50 while maintaining a communication channel with the radio base station 30, a multiple access technique such as a TDMA method can be used.

As described above, also in the present embodiment, the connection contract for one mobile phone terminal enables not only the communication by the mobile phone terminal but also the automatic transmission and reception of facsimile information having an incoming call function. This is possible using the public network.

In the first and second embodiments, a method for simultaneously establishing two communication channels is as follows.
Although the case where the TDMA system is adopted has been described, according to the multiple access method adopted in the wireless public network, two transmission / reception radio units are mounted to establish two communication channels at different frequencies.
e Access: Frequency division multiple access (CDMA) or CDMA (Code Divisio) that performs multiplexing using two different PN codes.
n Multiple Access (code division multiple access) system or the like may be adopted.

In the above embodiment, only the case of facsimile communication has been described, but the present invention can be applied to other data communication.

[0054]

According to the present invention, a facsimile communication including not only voice communication but also advanced functions such as automatic transmission / reception can be performed with a connection contract for one portable telephone terminal.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a wireless facsimile system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining signal exchange between a radio base station, a radio facsimile apparatus, and a mobile phone terminal in the radio facsimile system of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams for explaining an example in which two communication channels are simultaneously established using the TDMA method.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a wireless facsimile system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining signal exchange between a wireless base station, a wireless facsimile apparatus, and a mobile phone terminal in the wireless facsimile system of FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 mobile phone terminal 20 wireless facsimile apparatus 21 wireless communication section 211 wireless transmission section 212 modulation section 213 wireless reception section 214 demodulation section 215 frequency detection section 216, 217 switching section 22 facsimile transmission / reception section 30 wireless base station 40 mobile phone terminal 41 wireless communication Unit 411 wireless transmission unit 412 modulation unit 413 wireless reception unit 414 demodulation unit 415 frequency detection unit 416,417 switching unit 50 wireless facsimile device 51 wireless unit 52 modulation / demodulation unit 53 facsimile transmission / reception unit

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

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A wireless facsimile system in which one of a mobile phone terminal and a wireless facsimile apparatus is a master unit and the other is a slave unit, wherein the master unit is wirelessly connected to a wireless public network and wirelessly communicates with the slave unit. A wireless facsimile system comprising: a first communication unit for connection; and the slave unit includes at least a second communication unit for wireless connection with the master unit. 2. The wireless facsimile apparatus is a master unit, the mobile phone terminal is a slave unit, and the second communication unit is wirelessly connectable to the wireless public network. Item 1. The wireless facsimile system according to Item 1. 3. The first communication means has a detection unit for detecting a specific frequency signal, and the specific frequency signal is not transmitted until a predetermined time elapses after a line with the wireless public network is connected. 3. The wireless facsimile system according to claim 2, wherein when the detection is not possible, the line connection with the slave unit is performed while the connection line with the wireless public network is maintained. 4. The wireless public network, wherein the mobile phone terminal is a master unit, the wireless facsimile apparatus is a slave unit, and the first communication means has a detection unit for detecting a specific frequency signal. When the specific frequency signal is detected before a predetermined time elapses after the line is connected, the line connection with the slave unit is performed while maintaining the connection line with the wireless public network. The wireless facsimile system according to claim 1, wherein 5. The wireless facsimile system according to claim 3, wherein a multiplexing technique is used to perform a line connection with the slave unit while maintaining a connection line with the wireless public network. 6. A mobile telephone terminal and a wireless facsimile apparatus are configured so that one of them can be wirelessly connected as a master unit and the other as a slave unit. The master unit is directly wirelessly connected to a wireless public network, and the slave unit is connected via the master unit. A wireless connection to a wireless public network, whereby the mobile phone terminal and the wireless facsimile apparatus can connect to the wireless public network using a single connection terminal ID. How to connect to the public network.