JP2003061141A - Communication method for mobile terminal and mobile terminal system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mobile phone system that provides opportunities of communication to many people. SOLUTION: The mobile phone system can make wireless communication by using a line system or a packet system in a sector. A supervisory station 30 discriminates a sector where calls of mobile phones 10 are in congestion (S220), and since a base station 20a limits the wireless communication of the mobile phones 10 in the sector, where congestion takes place, to the packet system (S330), the system can inhibit communication with the line system so as to reduce the congestion in the sector.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile terminal communication method, and more particularly to a mobile terminal communication method suitable when congestion occurs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a mobile telephone communication system is divided into a plurality of radio areas, and a base station for communicating with a mobile telephone within the radio area is provided for each radio area. In addition, as the communication between the mobile phone and the base station,
A line method used for voice communication and a packet method used for data communication such as mail are prepared. Then, the mobile phone can switch between the line system and the packet system by the operation of the user.

[0003]

By the way, when a disaster such as an earthquake or a typhoon occurs, the number of users who use the voice communication of a mobile phone to check the safety of family members rapidly increases. For this reason, many calls are intensively generated in the line-type communication that provides voice communication.

Here, when the line communication is used, for example, many people occupy the communication channel for the entire usage time even when no conversation is being performed. Therefore, when many people use the line communication, congestion occurs. It is easy to get into a state.

In this way, when the congestion occurs, many users cannot use the voice communication of the mobile phone even if they want to use it.

In view of the above points, the present invention has an object to provide a communication system of a mobile phone capable of providing many people with a communication opportunity when a congestion occurs.

[0007]

The present invention has been made in view of the fact that the user can confirm the safety in case of a disaster even in packet communication such as mail. is there.

Specifically, according to the invention described in claim 1,
A communication method of a mobile terminal capable of performing wireless communication by either a line method or a packet method within a wireless area, wherein a determination step (S220) of determining a wireless area in which the mobile terminal is congested, and the congestion occurrence The restriction step (S330) of restricting the wireless communication of the portable terminal in the wireless area determined to be in the packet system to the packet system.

As described above, since the wireless communication of the portable terminal in the wireless area determined to be congested is limited to the packet method, the communication of the line method can be prohibited, and the congestion in the wireless area can be prevented. Can be terminated. Therefore, many people can be given the opportunity of packet communication.

Here, as in the invention described in claim 2,
The restricting step may restrict the wireless communication of the mobile terminal within the determined wireless area to the packet-type mail. As the mail, as in the invention according to claim 3, a mail having a voice message may be adopted.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication method for a mobile terminal capable of wireless communication by varying a transmission rate within a predetermined range within the radio area, wherein the mobile area is congested. Determination step for determining (S220)
And a limiting step (S330) of limiting the transmission rate of the mobile terminal in the wireless area determined to be congested to less than a predetermined rate within a predetermined range.

As described above, in order to limit the transmission rate in the wireless area in which the congestion is determined to be less than the predetermined rate in the predetermined range, the wireless rate of the predetermined rate or higher in the predetermined range is set in the wireless area. Communication can be prohibited and congestion in the wireless area can be terminated.
Therefore, many people can be given the opportunity of wireless communication of less than the predetermined rate within the predetermined range.

Here, as in the invention described in claim 5,
The restricting step may restrict the wireless communication of the mobile terminal within the determined wireless area to the line system below the predetermined rate. Further, as in the invention according to claim 6,
The restricting step may restrict the wireless communication of the mobile terminal within the determined wireless area to a packet method below a predetermined rate.

Further, if the notifying step (S320) notifies the portable terminal in the wireless area in which it is determined that the wireless communication is restricted as described in claim 7, many users Restricted wireless communications can be implemented without confusion. Further, as in the invention described in claim 8, it is preferable that the notifying step notifies the area information indicating the determined wireless area to a mobile terminal within the wireless area. Then, as in the invention described in claim 9, in the notifying step, the reason why the congestion has occurred may be notified to the mobile terminal in the wireless area where the reason is determined.

Further, in the invention described in claim 10, in the determining step, the number of receptions of the line connection request from the portable terminal in the wireless area is counted, and when the counted number of receptions exceeds a predetermined number, the congestion occurs. May be determined to have occurred.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, communication means (22, 24) capable of wirelessly communicating with the mobile terminal (10) within the wireless area by varying the transmission rate within a predetermined range,
In the wireless area, the determination means (S220) determines whether or not the mobile terminal is congested in the wireless area, and when the determination means determines that the mobile terminal is congested in the wireless area. Limiting means for limiting the transmission rate of the portable terminal to less than the predetermined rate within the predetermined range (S33).
0) and are included.

With this, it is possible to prohibit the wireless communication at a predetermined rate or higher within a predetermined range within the wireless area, and to end the congestion within the wireless area.
Therefore, to many people, like the invention described in claim 4,
It is possible to give an opportunity of wireless communication of less than a predetermined rate within a predetermined range.

According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, a communication means (22, 2) capable of wirelessly communicating with the portable terminal (10) within the wireless area by either the line system or the packet system.
4), determination means (S220) for determining whether or not congestion of the mobile terminal has occurred in the wireless area, and when the determination means determines that congestion of the mobile terminal has occurred in the wireless area. , And limiting means (S330) for limiting the communication of the mobile terminal in the wireless area to the packet system.

As a result, it is possible to prohibit the line-type communication and terminate the congestion in the wireless area. Therefore, similar to the invention described in claim 1, it is possible to give many people an opportunity of packet communication.

Incidentally, the reference numerals in the parentheses of the above-mentioned means are examples showing the correspondence with the concrete means described in the embodiments described later.

[0021]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a W-CDMA mobile phone system to which the communication method for a mobile terminal of the present invention is applied. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a mobile phone system.

As shown in FIG. 1, the portable telephone system is
Mobile phone 10, base stations 20a to 20i, and management station 3
0, the base stations 20a to 20i are formed by being divided into sectors (wireless areas) 21a to 21i,
The base stations 20a to 20i wirelessly communicate with the mobile phone 10 in each corresponding sector. The monitoring station 30 is composed of a computer or the like, and the monitoring station 30 communicates with each of the base stations 20a to 20i by wire to monitor the congestion state in each of the sectors 21a to 21i as described later. .

Next, the electric circuit configuration of the mobile phone 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of an electric circuit configuration of the mobile phone 10.

The mobile phone 10 includes an antenna 11 and a radio unit 1.
2, a voice processing unit 13, a microphone 14, a speaker 15, a display panel 16, a memory 17, a key operation unit 18, and a control unit 19. The antenna 11 receives a downlink communication signal from a corresponding base station using radio waves as a medium,
The upstream communication signal is transmitted to the corresponding base station using radio waves as a medium.

Under the control of the control unit 19, the radio unit 12 modulates the uplink transmission signal and outputs the uplink communication signal for each communication channel to the antenna 11, while the downlink communication signal for each communication channel from the antenna 11 is output. It demodulates and outputs a downlink reception signal.

Here, as the communication system of the radio section 12,
Either the line method or the packet method is used. Voice communication is used as the line system, and either high-speed data communication or low-speed data communication is used as the packet system. The low speed data communication is set lower than the transmission rate of the high speed data communication. For example,
Voice mail with voice messages is used for high-speed data communication, while mail with text messages is used for low-speed data communication.

The voice processing section 13 is controlled by the control section 19 to digital-to-analog convert the downlink reception signal and output a reception signal, while analog-to-digital conversion to a transmission signal to be described later to convert the uplink transmission signal. Output. Microphone 1
Reference numeral 4 denotes a voice processing unit 13 which converts a user's speech into a speech signal.
The speaker 15 converts the reception signal from the sound processing unit 57 into reception.

The memory 17 stores computer programs such as mail transmission / reception processing, call processing, function restriction processing, etc., and the key operation unit 18 is provided with a plurality of keys such as a start key, an end call key, and character / number keys. The control unit 19 is composed of a microcomputer and the like, and the microcomputer of the control unit 19 executes the function restriction process according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

Next, the electric circuit configuration of the base station 20a will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of an electric circuit configuration of the base station 20a.

As shown in FIG. 3, the base station 20a includes a transmitter 22, an antenna 23, a receiver 24, a memory 25,
It also has a control unit 26. Each transmission unit 22 is adopted for each communication channel.
Controlled by 6, the downlink transmission signal is modulated to output the downlink communication signal for each communication channel.

The antenna 23 transmits a downlink communication signal for each communication channel using radio waves as a medium, and receives an uplink communication signal for each communication channel described later using radio waves as a medium. Further, each receiving unit 24 is adopted for each communication channel, and the receiving unit 24 receives the upstream communication signal for each communication channel from the antenna 23, demodulates the upstream communication signal, and controls the upstream received signal. Output to.

The memory 25 stores computer programs such as communication processing with a mobile phone and disaster restriction processing. Further, the control unit 26 is composed of a microcomputer or the like, and the microcomputer of the control unit 26 has the configuration shown in FIG.
The disaster restriction processing is executed according to the flowchart shown in (b). The base stations 20b to 20i are the base stations 20
It has an electric circuit configuration substantially similar to that of a. Further, the monitoring station 30 has a computer, and this computer executes the congestion monitoring process according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the mobile phone system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a schematic operation of the mobile phone system, and FIGS. 5A to 5C are flowcharts showing detailed operations of the mobile phone 10, the base station 20a, and the monitor station 30.

The schematic operation of the mobile phone system will be described below with reference to FIG. First, the monitoring station 30 starts a congestion monitoring process when a disaster occurs (S10).
0). Along with this, the range to which the restriction of the communication method is applied among the sectors 21a to 21i is determined. As a result, the range of the congestion state is determined, and the communication mode applied to this determined range is determined (S110, S120).

Next, the determined communication form is implemented in the above determined range (S130). That is, in the congestion range, the line communication is prohibited and only the packet communication is permitted. Then, it is determined whether or not the congestion state in the determined range has ended, and when the congestion state ends, the normal mode is restored (S140, S
150). In this normal mode, the mobile phone can switch between the line system and the packet system by the operation of the user.

Next, the operation of the monitoring station 30 is shown in FIG.
Will be explained. FIG. 5C is a flowchart showing the congestion monitoring process in the monitoring station 30. Monitoring station 30
The computer of 1 starts the execution of the computer program according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When a start trigger and a reason for congestion are received by an operator's operation when a disaster occurs (S200), the start trigger is transmitted to each of the base stations 20b to 20i (S2).
10). After that, the congestion level described below is received for each base station, and the congestion area is determined based on the congestion level for each base station (S220).

Here, the congestion level indicates the number of receptions of a request signal for requesting the start of line connection from a mobile phone within a fixed period at the base station. Then, when the congestion level (the number of receptions) for each base station is less than the first threshold value, it is determined to be the normal state, while when the congestion level is equal to or more than the first threshold value, it is determined to be the congestion state. . Thereby, the congestion area can be determined by discriminating among the sectors 21a to 21i whose congestion level is equal to or higher than the first threshold value.

Next, in S230, the above determined sector is determined as a restricted area, and the restricted mode is determined for each restricted area (S240). Specifically, the first restriction mode is determined for the sector whose congestion level is equal to or higher than the first threshold and less than the second threshold (> the first threshold). In the first restriction mode, line-type communication is prohibited, and
As packet communication, either high-speed data communication or low-speed data communication is permitted.

On the other hand, the second restriction mode is determined for the sector whose congestion level is equal to or higher than the second threshold value. In the second restriction mode, line-type communication and high-speed data communication are prohibited, and low-speed data communication is permitted as packet-type communication.

As described above, when one of the first and second restriction modes is determined for each restricted area, the above-specified restriction mode is notified to the sector determined as the congestion area. In addition to this, the reason for congestion is notified to the sector determined as the congestion area. After that, when the congestion end signal is received from all the base stations 20b to 20i, the process ends (S250).

Next, the operation of the base station 20a is shown in FIG.
An explanation will be given using (b). FIG. 5B shows the base station 20a.
5 is a flowchart showing a disaster limitation process in FIG. The microcomputer of the control unit 26 of the base station 20a starts executing the computer program according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, when a start trigger is received from the monitor station 30, the congestion level is determined. That is, the number of received line connection request signals for each channel received through the receiving unit 24 through the antenna 23 is counted in a certain period,
The counted number of receptions is obtained as the congestion level (S3
00). Along with this, the congestion level is transmitted to the monitoring station 30.

Next, in S310, when the limiting mode is received from the monitoring station 30, each transmitting unit 22 causes the antenna 11 to transmit the limiting mode as a downlink communication signal for each channel. As a result, each mobile phone 10 in the sector 21a is notified that the communication service is restricted. Here, the content of the restricted communication service, the restricted area, the reason for the congestion (earthquake, fire), etc., indicating that the communication service has been restricted, are stored in each of the mobile phones 10 in the sector 21a.
Will be notified.

Next, the communication service is restricted for each mobile phone 10 in the sector 21a (S33).
0).

For example, when the first restriction mode is determined, the line system is prohibited as the communication system and the packet system high speed data communication and low speed data communication are permitted.
That is, in the case of packet-based data communication, it is permitted regardless of the transmission rate. On the other hand, when the second restriction mode is determined, the line type communication and the packet type high speed data communication are prohibited and the packet type low speed data communication is permitted.

Next, the congestion level is determined again in the same manner as in S300 (S340). Here, when the congestion level is equal to or higher than the first threshold value, the process returns to S330, and the implementation of the limited communication service is continued. On the other hand, the congestion level is the first
When it is less than the threshold value, the process proceeds to S350, the limited communication service is canceled, and the normal mode communication service is implemented. Therefore, all line-type communication, packet-type high-speed data communication, and low-speed data communication are permitted.

Next, each transmitting section 22 transmits a limitation release signal indicating that the limitation of the communication service is released from the antenna 23 for each channel. As a result, each mobile phone 10 in the sector 21a is notified that the restriction on the communication service is released (S360). Along with this, a congestion end signal indicating that congestion has ended is transmitted to the monitoring station 30 (S370).

Next, the operation of the mobile phone 10 in the sector 21a will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 (c) shows
7 is a flowchart showing a function restriction process in the mobile phone 10. The microcomputer of the control unit 19 of the mobile phone 10 follows the flowchart shown in FIG.
Start executing a computer program.

First, when the restricted mode is received from the base station 20a through the antenna 11 and the radio section 12 (S40).
0), the restriction of the communication function is started (S410). First,
When the first restricted mode is received as the restricted mode, "the line system communication is prohibited and the packet system communication is permitted" is displayed on the display panel 16 (S420). Along with this, "How to use high-speed data communication and low-speed data communication" is displayed on the display panel 16 (S430).

On the other hand, when the second limiting mode is received as the limiting mode, "the line type communication is prohibited and the packet type low speed data communication is permitted" is displayed on the display panel 16 ( S420). Along with this, "how to use low-speed data communication" is displayed on the display panel 16 (S430).

Next, the congestion range (sector) in which the restricted communication service is performed, the reason for the congestion, etc. are displayed on the display panel 16 (S440, S450). Accordingly, the restricted communication service is implemented based on the restricted mode (S460).

Here, when the first restriction mode is received, the line system is prohibited and the packet system high speed data communication and low speed data communication are permitted. On the other hand, when the second restriction mode is determined, the line communication and the packet high speed data communication are prohibited, and the packet low speed data communication is permitted.

After that, when the restriction release signal from the base station 20a is received through the radio unit 12 via the antenna 11, the restriction on the communication service is released (S470, S480).
Therefore, line communication, packet high-speed data communication, and low-speed data communication are all permitted.

The features of this embodiment will be described below. A mobile phone system capable of performing wireless communication by using either a line system or a packet system within a sector, the monitoring station 30
Determines the sector in which the mobile phone 10 is congested and restricts the wireless communication of the mobile phone 10 in the sector in which the congestion is determined to the packet system. Therefore, the line system communication is prohibited. And congestion in the sector can be terminated. Therefore, many people can be given the opportunity of packet-based data communication.

Here, the first restriction mode in which both high speed data communication and low speed data communication are permitted and the second restriction mode in which low speed data communication is permitted are classified according to the congestion state. As a result, the transmission rate of the mobile phone 10 in the sector can be limited to less than the transmission rate of high-speed data communication.

Here, in the CDMA communication system, the system capacity in a sector is set to a fixed value or less. The system capacity is equal to that of each mobile phone 10 in the sector.
It is determined by the sum of the transmission rates of. Therefore, the mobile phone 10 that wirelessly communicates at a high transmission rate in the sector
As the number of mobile phones increases, the number of mobile phones 10 that can communicate decreases. On the other hand, a mobile phone 1 that wirelessly communicates at a low transmission rate
As the number of 0s increases, the communicable number of the mobile phone 10 increases.

As a result, in the second restriction mode, as described above, the transmission rate of the mobile phone 10 in the sector is limited to less than the transmission rate of high-speed data communication, so that more people are given the opportunity of low-speed data communication. Can be given.

Further, since the contents of the restricted communication service, the restricted area, the reason for the congestion (earthquake, fire), etc. are notified to the respective mobile phones 10 of the sector, the respective mobile phones 10 of the sector are notified. Users can receive restricted communication services without confusion.

Further, in practicing the present invention, when determining the occurrence of congestion, the number of received line connection request signals is not limited to being used in a certain period of time, and at the same time, the received line connection can be detected. The number of received request signals may be used.

In carrying out the present invention, the transmission rate of the line type wireless communication may be varied within a predetermined range according to the congestion state.

That is, each of the base stations 20a to 20f has a transmission section 22 and a reception section 24, respectively, capable of varying the transmission rate with the mobile phone 10 in the sector within a predetermined range and performing wireless communication in a line system. The monitoring station 30 includes each sector 2
It is determined whether or not congestion of the mobile phone 10 occurs within 0a to 20f.

Here, the monitoring station 30 has each sector 20a ...
When it is determined that the mobile phone 10 is congested in a predetermined sector of 20f, the predetermined sector is set so as to limit the transmission rate of the wireless communication of the line system in the predetermined sector to less than the predetermined rate in the predetermined range. Command to the base station.

Further, in the above embodiment, the monitoring station 30
Has described an example of performing a wired communication with each of the base stations 20a to 20f to monitor the overall congestion of each of the sectors 20a to 20f and determining the restriction mode. However, without being limited to this, the base station Congestion may be monitored to determine the restricted mode.

Further, in the above embodiment, an example in which a mobile phone is applied as the mobile terminal has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various wireless mobile terminals such as PHS may be applied as the mobile terminal.

Further, in the above embodiment, an example in which the sector is adopted as the wireless area has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a cell may be adopted as the wireless area.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a mobile phone system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electric circuit configuration of the mobile phone shown in FIG.

3 is a block diagram showing an electric circuit configuration of the base station shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a schematic operation of the one embodiment.

5 is a flowchart showing detailed operations of the mobile phone, base station, and monitoring station shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Mobile phone, 20a-20i ... Base station, 30 ... Monitoring station

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Isao Hasegawa             1-1, Showa-cho, Kariya city, Aichi stock market             Inside the company DENSO F term (reference) 5K033 AA01 AA03 CB06 DA02 DA19                 5K034 AA19 EE03 EE09 HH64 JJ11                       MM08                 5K067 AA33 BB04 CC08 CC10 EE02                       EE10 EE16

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A communication method of a mobile terminal capable of wireless communication in either a line method or a packet method within a wireless area, wherein a determination step of determining a wireless area in which congestion of the mobile terminal occurs (S220). ) And a restriction step (S330) of restricting the wireless communication of the mobile terminal in the wireless area determined to have the congestion to the packet method, the communication method of the mobile terminal. 2. The communication method for a mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the limiting step limits wireless communication of the mobile terminal in the determined wireless area to the packet-based mail. 3. The mobile terminal communication method according to claim 2, wherein the mail has a voice message. 4. A communication method of a mobile terminal capable of performing wireless communication by varying a transmission rate within a predetermined range within a wireless area, wherein a determining step of determining a wireless area in which congestion of the portable terminal occurs. S220), and a limiting step (S330) of limiting the transmission rate of the portable terminal in the wireless area determined to be congested to less than a predetermined rate within the predetermined range (S330) Communication method of the terminal. 5. The communication method for a mobile terminal according to claim 4, wherein the restricting step restricts wireless communication of the mobile terminal within the determined wireless area to a line system below the predetermined rate. . 6. The communication method for a mobile terminal according to claim 5, wherein the restricting step restricts the wireless communication of the mobile terminal within the determined wireless area to a packet method below the predetermined rate. . 7. A notification step (S320) for notifying a mobile terminal within the determined wireless area that the wireless communication is restricted.
The communication method of the mobile terminal according to any one of 1. 8. The communication of a mobile terminal according to claim 7, wherein the notifying step notifies area information indicating the determined wireless area to a mobile terminal within the determined wireless area. Method. 9. The communication method for a mobile terminal according to claim 8, wherein the notifying step notifies the mobile terminal in the determined wireless area of the reason why the congestion has occurred. 10. The determination step counts the number of line connection requests received from mobile terminals within the wireless area, and when the counted number of receptions exceeds a predetermined number, it is determined that the congestion has occurred. The communication method of the mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the communication is performed. 11. Communication means (22, 24) capable of wirelessly communicating with a mobile terminal (10) within a wireless area by varying a transmission rate within a predetermined range, and congestion of the mobile terminal within the wireless area. Determination means (S220) for determining whether or not it has occurred, and a transmission rate of the mobile terminal in the wireless area when it is determined by the determination means that congestion of the mobile terminal occurs in the wireless area And a limiting means (S330) for limiting the value to less than a predetermined rate within the predetermined range. 12. Communication means (22, 24) capable of wirelessly communicating with a mobile terminal (10) in a wireless area by either a line method or a packet method, and congestion of the mobile terminal in the wireless area. Determining means (S220) for determining whether or not it has occurred, and communication of the portable terminal in the wireless area when the determining means determines that congestion of the portable terminal in the wireless area has occurred. A mobile terminal system, comprising: a limiting unit (S330) for limiting the packet method.