JP2004040676A - Mobile telephone system with short range radio communication function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a radio communication system by using a mobile telephone even at a place where radio waves of a mobile telephone system are not delivered. <P>SOLUTION: A mobile telephone 1 is capable of a radio communication connection via a base station 10 by a mobile radio signal 18 and a call originating operation via an access point (AP) 2 by a short range radio signal 9 while using a second radio communication means in a situation that a receiving sensitivity of the signal 18 is adverse. The AP 2 includes a short range communication device of Bluetooth(R), for example. In the call originating operation using the short range radio signal, a signal for investigating presence/non-presence of a nearby AP is transmitted from the mobile telephone 1, the AP is selected based upon presence/non-presence of a response signal from the AP and after security processing is carried out on both sides, a telephone number of a party is inputted to call. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a mobile phone system with a short-range wireless communication function, and more particularly to improvement of a communicable area.
[0002]
[Prior art]
FIG. 7 shows an example of a conventional mobile phone system. In this conventional mobile phone system, the mobile terminal device 1 mainly has a call function, and some devices have a packet communication function.
[0003]
When a call is made between the portable terminal device 1 and the fixed telephone 5, the portable terminal device 1 connects to the base station 10 by a portable wireless signal 18. Then, the base station 10 is connected to the backbone network 16 via the base station controller 11 and the exchange 12. Further, it connects to the fixed telephone 5 via the gateway exchange 13, the gateway device (GW) 14, and the telephone network 7.
[0004]
Next, when the portable terminal device 1 has a packet communication function and performs packet communication between the servers 15, the portable terminal device 1 connects to the base station 10 by a portable wireless signal 18. Then, the base station 10 is connected to the backbone network 16 via the base station controller 11 and the exchange 12. Further, it connects to the server 15 via the gateway exchange 13, the gateway device 14, and the Internet network 8.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the conventional system described above has the following problems. The problem is that it is not possible to communicate using a mobile phone in places such as underground shopping malls, buildings, and mountains where radio waves from base stations do not reach. The reason is that radio waves do not reach from the mobile phone base station.
[0006]
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication system using a mobile phone even in a place where radio waves of the mobile phone system do not reach.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the first aspect of the present invention, a mobile communication network accommodating a mobile phone through a wireless communication base station via a mobile wireless base station, and a fixed telephone connected to the mobile communication network and connected via a wired connection. A fixed telephone network accommodating terminals, an access point wiredly connected to the fixed telephone network, and capable of accommodating the mobile telephone by short distance wireless communication, and a mobile telephone system with a short distance wireless communication function comprising a mobile telephone Wherein the mobile phone has a first wireless communication unit having a communication connection function with the mobile radio base station, and a second wireless communication unit having a call connection function with the access point. In performing a call originating operation from the mobile phone, if the reception sensitivity of radio waves is poor by the first wireless communication means, an access point is present in the vicinity by the second wireless communication means. The inquiry operation is performed to search for an access point. If an inquiry response is received from the access point corresponding to the inquiry operation, the access point for performing the call originating operation is selected, and then the terminal ID is transmitted to the access point by operating the mobile phone. The access point returns to the mobile phone whether or not the call connection is possible based on the received terminal ID, and the mobile phone permitted to make the call connection transmits the other party's telephone number to the access point as call connection destination designation information. The access point returns a response to the mobile phone, and can perform a call using the second wireless communication means of the mobile phone by performing a designated calling process. You can get a telephone system.
[0008]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the access point is a BLUETOOTH device, and the mobile phone system with a short-range wireless function according to the first aspect can be obtained.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of a mobile phone system with a short-range wireless function according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0010]
In FIG. 1, the mobile terminal device 1 has a call function and can be connected to an access point 2 existing within a line-of-sight distance of about 100 m via a short-range wireless signal 9. The access point 2 is connected to a telephone station 17 via a telephone line 4 by wire. The access point 2 has a wireless communication function and a wired communication function, and has a function of connecting the mobile terminal device 1 to the telephone network 7 via the telephone station 17.
[0011]
The mobile terminal 1 is connected to the base station 10 by a mobile wireless signal 18, and is connected to the backbone network 16 via the base station controller 11 and the exchange 12. Further, it is connected from the gateway exchange 13 to the telephone network 7 via the gateway device 14, and is connected to the individual fixed telephone 5 from the telephone line 4.
[0012]
Although the system used as the short-range wireless signal 9 is not particularly limited, it is added that the system can handle voice and that the use of security is effective.
[0013]
Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. When the user needs to make a call for a call to a specific fixed telephone 5 while moving, if the radio wave condition is good, a normal call operation is performed as a mobile phone, and the mobile phone signal 18 is used. To connect to the nearest base station 10. Furthermore, it is connected to the backbone network 16 from the base station controller 11 and the exchange 12. Next, a call can be made with a specific fixed telephone 5 via the gateway exchange 13, the gateway device 14, and the telephone network 7.
[0014]
However, when the radio wave condition is poor, the user operates the portable terminal device 1 at a location near the store 3 where the access point 2 is installed, the platform of the station, or the store where the access point 2 is installed. Perform a call originating operation. The specific contents will be described with reference to FIG. The user first inputs the telephone number of the other party directly or by specifying the telephone directory to specify the connection destination. Next, the user selects whether to use a normal portable wireless communication or a short-distance wireless communication as a wireless means to be connected. When using the mobile radio, a mobile phone connection process is performed. When short-range wireless communication is used, an inquiry operation is performed to search for an access point existing in the vicinity. The user selects the access point 2 from among them. If security processing such as ID input or password input is performed and mutual trust can be confirmed, the other party's telephone number as connection destination designation information is transmitted to the access point 2. If the other party performs the incoming call processing, the connection processing with the other party is completed, and the call can be made with the other party. Note that the mobile phone connection process is well known to those skilled in the art, and is not the focus of the present invention.
Next, an operation when a BLUETOOTH device is adopted as an access point will be described. The sequence between the BLUETOOTH devices is defined in the profile. Only a headset profile is defined as a profile for handling audio as shown in the present embodiment, and a hands-free profile is being defined. However, neither profile can be directly employed in the system of the present embodiment. That is, when the headset profile is adopted, in this embodiment, the portable terminal device 1 functions as a headset device, and the access point 2 functions as an audio gateway. In this profile, there is no way for the headset to notify the audio gateway of the other party's telephone number. Therefore, a headset profile cannot be adopted in the present embodiment.
[0015]
When the hands-free profile is adopted, in this embodiment, the portable terminal device 1 functions as a hands-free device, and the access point 2 functions as an audio gateway. With this profile, registration processing from the hands-free device cannot be performed. That is, the operation on the access point 2 side is required at the time of device registration. Therefore, it is necessary to newly determine a sequence between the mobile terminal device 1 and the access point 2 in the present invention. A sequence of the registration process will be described with reference to FIG. 3, and a connection sequence will be described with reference to FIG.
[0016]
FIG. 3 shows a device registration processing sequence in the present embodiment. The access point 2 performs INQUIRY SCAN periodically, and waits for access from a peripheral device. The user carries the portable terminal device 1 and goes near the access point 2 to perform an INQUIRY operation. The access point 2 and the nearby BLUETOOTH device respond to the portable terminal device 1 with an INQUIRY response to their existence. The user selects the access point 2 from among them. Thereby, the mobile terminal device 1 performs PAGEING with respect to the access point 2 and continues to establish a link as soon as a response is received. When a link establishment response is received from the access point 2, an authentication process is started next. In the authentication process, after confirming that the pass key input from the mobile terminal device 1 and the pass key input from the access point 2 match, both of them store what is called a link key, and thereafter, both of them are referred to based on the link key. This is to confirm the trust relationship. Here, a fixed passkey method is adopted so that the passkey of the access point 2 side does not have to be manually input. Thus, the authentication process can be performed only by inputting the pass key from the portable terminal device 1 at the time of device registration.
[0017]
That is, instead of selecting a PAGEING device from the access point 2 side as specified in the hands-free profile or the headset profile, the PAGEING device can be selected on the mobile terminal device 1 side. By adopting the fixed passkey method, the device registration process can be performed only by operating the user's mobile terminal device 1.
[0018]
Next, the connection processing sequence will be described with reference to FIG. The user operates the portable terminal device 1 near the access point 2 on which the device registration processing has been performed as described above, and selects the access point 2 to be connected. Then, a link is established between the two devices, an authentication process using the link key is performed, and then a channel is established and a connection is established. At this point, the applications between the two devices can communicate with each other.
[0019]
Since the authentication process in the device registration process uses a fixed passkey as described above, the passkey will match anytime after retrying many times. In other words, if the passkey is a four-digit decimal number, the passkey can be obtained after 10,000 trials. Therefore, when the connection is established, it is necessary to perform further authentication.
[0020]
The user preliminarily applies general registration information such as name, address, telephone number and the unique address information of the mobile terminal device 1 to the account information related to the payment of the fee for registration with the system, and applies in advance. Receive the password calculated from the information. At this point, the access point 2 requests input including the same information and dummy information as at the time of application, so that hobbies and work addresses not related to information to be calculated, such as name, address, telephone number, etc. Enter the password received at the time of application. The access point 2 calculates a password equivalent to that at the time of application using the same calculation factor and calculation method as at the time of application, compares the password with the password input by the user from the mobile terminal device 1, and enables subsequent services. The access point 2 once registered can be accessed only by inputting the password thereafter. If it is difficult to store a number of passwords in the access point 2, the mobile terminal 1 may transmit the registration information many times each time the mobile terminal 1 connects to the access point 2. It is possible. What is necessary is just to provide the portable terminal device 1 with a function of storing such information so that the user does not need to input each time. Further, such a procedure is necessary again when connecting to the access point 2 in another place for the first time, but in such a case, if the procedure is stored in the portable terminal device 1, there is no particular inconvenience. However, it is necessary for the portable terminal device 1 to have a mechanism in which the information is not known to anyone other than the owner. In addition, a password can be obtained, but it is easy to prevent the mobile terminal device 1 from being able to connect to the access point 2 when several mismatches are detected using a different address as a key for each mobile terminal device 1. Unauthorized use can be prevented.
[0021]
Further description of service implementation will be continued with reference to FIG. When the authentication at the application level is completed, the telephone number can be input on the mobile terminal device 1 side. The mobile terminal device 1 and the access point 2 transfer a telephone number from the mobile terminal device 1 to the access point 2 by adding a function to support a function related to the transfer of a telephone number. The received access point 2 returns the response to the portable terminal device 1 and performs a calling process. Next, audio connection processing is performed between the mobile terminal device 1 and the access point 2 to enable a telephone call.
[0022]
Next, an audio path in the portable terminal device 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The portable wireless antenna 19 is connected to the wireless transmitting / receiving unit 21 and then to the baseband processing unit 22. The audio signal is output from the baseband processing unit 22 to the switching unit a26. From the switching unit a26, the signal converted into an analog signal by the audio encoding processing unit 23 is connected to the microphone / speaker unit 24 and output as audio. The signal connected to the switching unit b27 is connected to the short-range wireless control unit 25, converted into a short-range wireless signal, and wirelessly connected to the partner device from the short-range wireless antenna 20.
In the configuration diagram, the feature of the present embodiment is that a switching unit b27 is newly added between the switching unit a26 and the short-range wireless control unit 25.
[0023]
In the related art, switching between outputting a mobile wireless signal to the microphone / speaker unit 24 or outputting to the opposing short-range wireless device via the short-range wireless control unit 25 and the short-range wireless antenna 20 is performed. Was needed. However, in order to realize the present embodiment, it is necessary to additionally switch between outputting the audio signal of the microphone / speaker unit 24 to the portable wireless side or outputting to the short-range wireless side. The need for b27 arises.
[0024]
When outputting the audio signal from the microphone / speaker unit 24 to the portable wireless antenna 19, both switches inside the switching unit b27 are set to the OFF state, and the switch of the switching unit a26 is set to the left side. The signal output from the microphone / speaker unit 24 to the audio encoding processing unit 23 is output to the baseband processing unit 22 via the switching unit a26. Further, the signal is output from the wireless transmitting / receiving unit 21 to the portable wireless antenna 19.
[0025]
Next, when outputting the audio signal from the microphone / speaker unit 24 to the short-range wireless antenna 20 side, the switch inside the switching unit b27 sets the left side to ON and the right side to OFF state, and the switch of the switching unit a26 to the right side. Set. The signal output from the microphone / speaker unit 24 to the audio encoding processing unit 23 is output to the short-range wireless control unit 25 via the switching unit b27. Then, it is output to the short-range wireless antenna 20. In this way, the audio path can be switched.
[0026]
Further, in the present embodiment, a description has been given of the content of adopting BLUETOOTH as a short-range wireless system, but other schemes such as IEEE802.11b and HISWANa can also be adopted. However, depending on the method adopted, it may be necessary to add a function for performing special processing.
[0027]
Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. Although the basic configuration is as described above, the function of the access point in packet communication is further devised. FIG. 6 shows the configuration.
[0028]
In FIG. 1, the mobile terminal device 1 has a packet communication function in addition to a call function, and can connect to an access point 2 existing within a line-of-sight distance of about 100 m via a short-range wireless signal 9. The packet communication path branches off at the gateway device 14 and connects to the server 15 via the Internet network 8.
[0029]
The access point 2 is connected to the telephone station 17 via the telephone line 4 by wire. The access point 2 has a wireless communication function and a wired communication function, and has a function of connecting to the telephone line network 7 or the Internet network 8 via the portable terminal device 1 and the telephone station 17. The wired communication function of the access point 2 includes a function such as DSL, so that a plurality of portable terminal devices 1 can access simultaneously.
[0030]
While being connected from the telephone station 17 to the telephone network 7, the telephone station 17 is also connected to the ISP 6 (Internet service provider). The telephone line network 7 is connected to a plurality of fixed telephones 5 via the telephone line 4. The ISP 6 is connected to the Internet 8. A plurality of servers 15 are connected to the Internet network 8.
[0031]
The mobile terminal 1 is connected to the base station 10 by a mobile radio signal 18, and is connected to the backbone network 16 via the base station controller 11 and the exchange 12. Further, it is connected from the gateway exchange 13 to the telephone network 7 via the gateway device 14, and is connected to the individual fixed telephone 5 from the telephone line 4. The gateway device 14 is connected to a plurality of servers 15 via the Internet 8. Although the configuration has been described above, the ISP 6 is well known to those skilled in the art and is not directly related to the present embodiment.
[0032]
Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The operation when the user issues a call to a specific fixed telephone 5 for a call while moving is the same as in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.
[0033]
Next, when the user needs to access a specific server 15 while moving, if the radio wave condition is good, a normal packet connection operation is performed as a mobile phone, and the nearest base station is transmitted via the mobile radio signal 18. Connect to 10. Furthermore, the base station control device 11 and the exchange 12 are connected to the backbone network 16. Next, it can be connected to a specific server 15 via the gateway exchange 13, the gateway device 14, and the Internet network 8. However, when the radio wave condition is poor, the user operates the portable terminal device 1 at a location near the store 3 where the access point 2 is installed, the platform of the station, or the store where the access point 2 is installed. Perform packet connection operation.
[0034]
The specific contents will be described with reference to FIG. First, the user inputs the URL of the other party directly or by bookmark or the like to specify the destination. Next, the user selects whether to use a normal portable wireless communication or a short-distance wireless communication as a wireless means to be connected. When using the mobile radio, a mobile phone connection process is performed. When short-range wireless communication is used, an inquiry operation is performed to search for a BLUETOOTH device existing in the vicinity. The user selects the access point 2 from among them. If security processing such as ID input or password input is performed and mutual trust can be confirmed, the other party's telephone number as connection destination designation information is transmitted to the access point 2. If there is a response from the other party, it can communicate with the other party. Note that the mobile phone connection process is well known to those skilled in the art and is not the focus of the present invention, so a detailed description will be omitted.
[0035]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the present invention has the following effects. The effect is that it is possible to perform a telephone call or a packet communication even in an environment where radio waves of a mobile phone do not reach. The reason is that wireless communication can be performed using short-range wireless communication.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a mobile phone system with a short-range wireless function according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment of selecting a wireless unit in the mobile phone device.
FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram of a device registration process according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram of a connection process according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an audio path in the portable terminal device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a mobile phone system with a short-range wireless function according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a conventional mobile phone system.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Mobile terminal device 2 Access point 3 Store 4 Telephone line 5 Fixed telephone 6 ISP
7 telephone line network 8 Internet network 9 short-range wireless signal 10 base station 11 base station controller 12 switch 13 gateway switch 14 gateway device 15 server 16 backbone network 17 telephone station 18 portable wireless signal 19 portable wireless antenna 20 short-range wireless antenna 21 Wireless transmitting / receiving unit 22 Baseband processing unit 23 Audio coding processing unit 24 Microphone / speaker unit 25 Short-range wireless control unit 26 Switching unit a
27 Switching unit b

Claims (2)

A mobile communication network accommodating a mobile phone through a wireless communication connection via a mobile radio base station; a fixed telephone network interconnected with the mobile communication network and accommodating a fixed telephone terminal through a wired connection; An access point that is connected to a fixed telephone network by wire and can accommodate the mobile phone by short-range wireless communication, and a mobile phone system with a short-range wireless communication function configured by a mobile phone,
The mobile phone includes a first wireless communication unit having a communication connection function with the mobile wireless base station, and a second wireless communication unit having a call connection function with the access point,
In performing a call originating operation from the mobile phone, if the reception sensitivity of the radio wave is poor by the first wireless communication means, the second wireless communication means searches for an access point in the vicinity by an inquiry operation. Then, when there is an inquiry response from the access point corresponding to this, the access point for performing the call originating operation is selected, and then the terminal ID is transmitted to the access point by operating the mobile phone, and the access point performs Based on the received terminal ID, whether or not the call connection is possible is returned to the mobile phone. The mobile phone permitted to make the call connection transmits the other party's telephone number to the access point as the call connection destination designation information, and the access point returns the response. By using the second wireless communication means of the mobile phone by performing a designated calling process while replying to the mobile phone Short-range wireless function mobile phone system characterized by enabling a call. 2. The mobile phone system with a short-range wireless function according to claim 1, wherein the access point is a Bluetooth device.

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