JP2007124417A - Communication method, communication system, and communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication method and communication system of one-to-many type, capable of receiving appropriate data corresponding to the states of communication terminals participating in communication, as well as a communication terminal used in the communication system. <P>SOLUTION: Communication terminals (100-1, 100-2, ...) participating in group communication acquire a terminal information about capability of receiving data, and the acquired terminal information is transmitted to a communication management device 200. In the communication management device 200, the terminal information sent from the communication terminals is registered in a database 241. When a data is transmitted from one communication terminal to other plurality of communication terminals, the data is temporarily received by the communication management device 200. The received data is converted into a data corresponding to the terminal information registered in the database 241 for each communication terminal which is a destination. The converted data is transmitted to the destination communication terminal. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a one-to-many communication method using a communication terminal such as a cellular phone, a communication system therefor, and a communication terminal that performs one-to-many communication.

  In recent years, modes of communication by communication terminals such as mobile phones have been diversified, and in addition to conventional voice calls by circuit switching, new modes of communication such as packet communication using an IP (internet protocol) network are being performed. . For example, there is “chat mail” in which conversation is performed by exchanging characters between communication terminals in real time (see Patent Document 1). Chat mail is one of communication modes called “group communication” in which a group is formed between members registered in advance and data such as characters is communicated in real time within this group.

One type of group communication that has recently attracted attention is called PTT (push to talk) or PoC (push to talk over cellular). In PTT, a plurality of communication terminals forming a group perform a real-time voice call by VoIP (voice over internet protocol). One-to-many voice communication can be performed by transmitting common voice data simultaneously from one communication terminal on the transmission side to a plurality of communication terminals on the reception side.
JP 2003-174520 A

  In general, PTT mainly uses voice communication. However, since data is transmitted via a packet switching network, various data (characters, images, music, etc.) other than voice data can be transmitted. Recently, mobile phones have become more multifunctional and higher in performance, such as camera functions being generally installed. For this reason, there is an increasing demand for transmitting large data such as image data and data of various formats by group communication such as PTT.

  However, since the state (communication capability, radio wave state, remaining battery level, etc.) of each communication terminal participating in group communication is various, data that can be received by one communication terminal may not be received by another communication terminal. . For example, when very large data is sent to multiple communication terminals, for example, a communication terminal with good radio wave condition and sufficient free memory can receive data without problems, but at that time the communication terminal with poor radio wave reception condition There is a possibility that data cannot be received by a communication terminal that has insufficient free memory. In the case of one-to-one communication, since the transmission side can convert data in accordance with the reception side, the above-described inconvenience does not occur. However, in the one-to-many communication, a method is generally adopted in which the same data is uniformly transmitted to a plurality of communication terminals. For this reason, a communication terminal in a bad state fails to receive data or takes data for a very long time.

  In order to solve the above inconveniences, for example, whether or not a server device that relays data provides each communication terminal with information such as the size and type of data, and whether or not each communication terminal that receives the information receives the data. A method of selecting each of these is conceivable. However, this method has a disadvantage that the communication terminal on the receiving side has to select whether or not to receive the sent information one by one, which makes the operation cumbersome and hinders smooth communication. .

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is a one-to-many communication method and communication system in which each communication terminal participating in communication can receive appropriate data according to each state, and An object of the present invention is to provide a communication terminal used in such a communication system.

  A first aspect of the present invention relates to a communication method in which one of a plurality of communication terminals performing wireless communication transmits data to a plurality of other communication terminals via a management device, and the plurality of communication terminals Each of the first step of acquiring the first information on the data reception capability, and the second step of each of the plurality of communication terminals transmitting the acquired first information to the management device, A third step in which the management device receives the first information transmitted from each communication terminal and stores the received first information; and a communication terminal of the plurality of communication terminals A fourth step of transmitting data to a plurality of other communication terminals; and the management device receives data transmitted from the first communication terminal and converts the data into the first information for each communication terminal. To the corresponding data, and the conversion The data and a fifth step of transmitting to the other plurality of communication terminals.

  A second aspect of the present invention relates to a communication method in which one of a plurality of communication terminals that perform wireless communication transmits data to another plurality of communication terminals, and each of the plurality of communication terminals includes data A first step of acquiring first information relating to the reception capability of the first communication, a second step in which each of the plurality of communication terminals transmits the acquired first information to other communication terminals, Each of the plurality of communication terminals receives the first information transmitted from the other plurality of communication terminals, stores the received first information, and among the plurality of communication terminals When one of the communication terminals transmits data to another communication terminal, it determines whether or not each of the other plurality of communication terminals can receive data according to the first information, and determines that the data can be received. Fourth step of transmitting data to the communication terminal Having.

  A third aspect of the present invention relates to a communication system that includes a plurality of communication terminals and a management device that perform wireless communication, and one of the plurality of communication terminals transmits data to a plurality of other communication terminals. The communication terminal includes a terminal-side communication unit that communicates with the management device, an information acquisition unit that acquires first information related to data reception capability, and first information acquired by the information acquisition unit. A first terminal-side transmission control unit that causes the terminal-side communication unit to transmit to the management device; and a second terminal side that causes the terminal-side communication unit to transmit data to the management device to be transmitted to another plurality of communication terminals A transmission control unit; and a terminal-side reception control unit that receives transmission data from another communication terminal transmitted from the management device by the terminal-side communication unit, and the management device communicates with the communication terminal. The management communication section And the first management side reception control for receiving the first information transmitted from each of the plurality of communication terminals at the management side communication unit and storing the received first information in the storage unit Received by the second management-side reception control unit, the second management-side reception control unit receiving data transmitted from one communication terminal of the plurality of communication terminals at the management-side communication unit, and the second management-side reception control unit A data conversion unit that converts the converted data into data corresponding to the first information in the storage unit for each communication terminal, and communication other than the first communication terminal from the management-side communication unit to the data converted in the data conversion unit A management-side transmission control unit that transmits the data to the terminal.

  The information acquisition unit may acquire information related to at least one of a receivable data amount, a remaining battery level, and a radio wave reception state as the first information.

  The first terminal-side transmission control unit may transmit the first information from the terminal-side communication unit when the first information acquired by the information acquisition unit changes or at a constant cycle.

  The data conversion unit discards the data transmitted from the first communication terminal received by the second management-side reception control unit according to the first information stored in the storage unit, and discards the data You may convert into the notification data for notifying.

  A fourth aspect of the present invention relates to a communication terminal used in a communication system in which one of a plurality of communication terminals performing wireless communication transmits data to another plurality of communication terminals, and communicates with the communication system. A communication unit, an information acquisition unit that acquires first information regarding data reception capability, a first transmission control unit that transmits the first information acquired in the information acquisition from the communication unit, and a plurality of other information A second transmission control unit for transmitting data to be transmitted to the communication terminal from the communication unit, and transmission data from another communication terminal converted according to the first information is received by the communication unit. A reception control unit.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal used in a communication system in which one of a plurality of communication terminals performing wireless communication transmits data to another plurality of communication terminals. A communication unit that communicates with the information, an information acquisition unit that acquires first information about data reception capability, a first transmission control unit that transmits the first information acquired in the information acquisition unit from the communication unit, Whether the communication control unit receives the first information transmitted from other communication terminals and whether the other communication terminals can receive data according to the received first information. And a second transmission control unit that transmits data from the communication unit to a communication terminal that has determined that the data can be received.

  The information acquisition unit may acquire information related to at least one of a receivable data amount, a remaining battery level, and a radio wave reception state as the first information.

  The first transmission control unit may transmit the first information from the communication unit when the first information acquired by the information acquisition unit changes or at a constant cycle.

  The communication terminal according to the fourth aspect may include a display unit that displays information. In this case, the reception control unit receives a discard notification from the communication system for notifying that transmission data from another communication terminal has been discarded according to the first information. A message based on the discard notification may be displayed on the display unit.

  The communication terminal according to the fifth aspect may include a display unit that displays information. In this case, the determination unit determines whether or not each of the other plurality of communication terminals can receive data having a specific size, and the second transmission control unit receives data having a specific size in the determination unit. Is transmitted from the communication unit to the communication terminal that is determined to be unable to receive the transmission of the data from the communication unit, the reception control unit from the other communication terminal in the communication unit When the transmission postponement notification is received, a message notifying that data transmission has been postponed in the other communication terminal may be displayed on the display unit.

  In the communication terminal according to the fourth and fifth aspects, the first transmission control unit receives the group communication start notification from the communication unit and performs the group communication. May work.

  According to the present invention, in one-to-many communication, each communication terminal participating in communication can receive appropriate data according to each state.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The communication system according to the present embodiment includes, for example, a plurality of communication terminals (100-1, 100-2, 100-3, 100-4, 100-5,...) And a communication management device 200 as shown in FIG. And have.

  The communication terminal 100-i (i represents a natural number) is a wireless communication terminal such as a mobile phone, and is connected to the communication network 300 via base stations (300-1, 300-2, 300-3,...). Is done. The communication terminal 100-i performs data communication according to the control of the communication management apparatus 200 connected to the communication network 300. In the present embodiment, as an example, group communication using PTT (push to talk) is performed.

  The data transmitted in this data communication includes, for example, data such as voice of calls, images, characters, and music.

  In this communication system, one of the plurality of communication terminals (100-1, 100-2, 100-3, 100-4, 100-5,...) Participating in the group communication is permitted by the communication management apparatus 200. The communication terminal can transmit data such as voice and image to a plurality of other communication terminals.

  The communication terminal 100-i, for example, information relating to data reception capability (hereinafter referred to as terminal information) such as the amount of receivable data, the remaining battery level, the radio wave reception state, and the format (for example, file format) of receivable data. ) If necessary. Then, the acquired information is transmitted to the communication management apparatus 200. This terminal information transmission may be performed, for example, when a change occurs in the terminal information, or may be performed at a constant cycle. For example, when a terminal information transmission request is sent from the communication management apparatus 200, the terminal information may be transmitted to the communication management apparatus 200 in response thereto.

The communication management device 200 is a device that manages PTT group communication by a plurality of communication terminals (100-1, 100-2, 100-3, 100-4, 100-5,...).
When receiving a request for starting group communication by PTT from one communication terminal, the communication management apparatus 200 calls the communication terminal of the other party in response to the request and establishes a communication session.

  When the communication management apparatus 200 receives the terminal information transmitted from each communication terminal, the communication management apparatus 200 stores the received terminal information in an internal storage device. For example, the communication management apparatus 200 stores the terminal information of each communication terminal that participates in the ongoing group communication in association with the identification information (such as a telephone number) of each communication terminal.

  When the communication management apparatus 200 receives data sent from one communication terminal to another communication terminal, the communication management apparatus 200 converts the data into data corresponding to the terminal information for each communication terminal. Then, the converted data is transmitted to the destination communication terminal.

For example, if the communication management apparatus 200 determines that there is a communication terminal in which the amount of data that can be received by the terminal information is small, the communication management apparatus 200 performs conversion to reduce the data size to the extent that reception is possible. For image data, the image size is reduced.
If the communication management apparatus 200 determines that there is a communication terminal whose radio wave reception state is extremely deteriorated according to the terminal information, the communication management apparatus 200 discards the data sent from the communication terminal on the transmission side and notifies the data destruction. For small size data (discard notification). The communication terminal that has received the discard notification executes a process of notifying the user that the data has been discarded by the communication management apparatus 200 (for example, a process of displaying a message notifying the discard on the display).

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the communication terminals (100-1, 100-2,...) According to the embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, communication terminals having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 may be collectively referred to as “communication terminal 100”.
A communication terminal 100 shown in FIG. 2 includes an antenna 101, a communication unit 102, a key input unit 103, an audio processing unit 104, a speaker 105, a microphone 106, a display unit 107, a storage unit 108, and a control unit. 109.

  The communication unit 102 performs wireless communication with base stations (300-1, 300-2,...) Connected to the communication network 300. For example, the communication unit 102 performs predetermined modulation processing on transmission data supplied from the control unit 109 of the terminal, converts the transmission data into a radio signal, and transmits the radio signal from the antenna 101. In addition, a predetermined demodulation process is performed on a radio signal from the base station received by the antenna 101 to convert it into reception data, which is output to the control unit 109 of the terminal.

  The key input unit 103 has keys having various functions such as numeric keys, character keys, direction keys, and decision keys. When these keys are operated by the user, the operation contents are handled. Is input to the control unit 109 of the terminal as a user instruction.

  The audio processing unit 104 processes an audio signal output from the speaker 105 and an audio signal input from the microphone 106. That is, the audio signal input from the microphone 106 is subjected to signal processing such as amplification, analog-digital conversion, encoding, and the like, converted into digital audio data, and output to the control unit 109 of the terminal. Further, the audio data supplied from the control unit 109 of the terminal is subjected to signal processing such as decoding, digital-analog conversion, amplification, etc., converted into an analog audio signal, and output to the speaker 105.

  The display unit 107 is configured using a display device such as a liquid crystal display panel or an organic EL panel, for example, and displays an image corresponding to a video signal supplied from the control unit 109 of the terminal. For example, various information such as the telephone number of the callee at the time of outgoing call, the telephone number of the callee at the time of incoming call, the contents of the received mail and the outgoing mail, the date, time, and the remaining battery level are displayed.

The storage unit 108 of the terminal stores various data used in the processing of the control unit 109 of the terminal. For example, it stores a computer program code of the control unit 109 of the terminal, an address book for managing telephone numbers and e-mail addresses, a sound file for playing ringtones and alarm sounds, and various setting data. It also holds temporary data used in the program processing.
The storage unit 108 of the terminal is configured by, for example, a nonvolatile storage device (nonvolatile semiconductor memory, hard disk device, optical disk device, etc.) or a random accessible storage device (SRAM, DRAM, etc.).

  The control unit 109 of the terminal controls the overall operation of the electronic device. That is, various processes of the electronic device (voice communication performed via a circuit switching network, group communication using PTT, creation and transmission / reception of an e-mail, browsing of an Internet website, etc.) are performed according to the operation of the key input unit 103. The operation of each unit described above (transmission / reception of signals in the communication unit 102, input / output of audio in the audio processing unit 104, display of images in the display unit 107, etc.) is controlled so as to be executed in an appropriate procedure.

  For example, the control unit 109 of the terminal includes a computer that executes processing based on a program (operating system, application, etc.) stored in the storage unit 108, and executes the above-described processing according to the program procedure.

  The terminal control unit 109 includes a terminal information acquisition unit 151, a terminal information transmission control unit 152, a PTT transmission control unit 154, and a PTT reception control unit 155 as processing blocks related to PTT group communication.

  The terminal information acquisition unit 151 acquires the terminal information described above regarding the reception capability of the communication terminal 100. For example, information on the amount of data that can be received, the remaining battery level, the radio wave reception status, and the format (file format, etc.) of the data that can be received is acquired.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of terminal information acquired by the terminal information acquisition unit 151.
In the example of FIG. 3, the terminal information includes three data DA, DB, and DC.
The data DA is a 16-bit numerical value indicating the remaining capacity of received data that can be stored in the storage unit 108 of the terminal, and its unit is kilobytes.
The data DB is a 2-bit numerical value indicating the remaining amount of a battery (not shown) that drives the communication terminal 100, and represents four levels according to the remaining amount of the battery.
The data DC is a 2-bit numerical value indicating the radio wave reception state, and represents, for example, four levels according to the intensity of the signal received by the communication unit 2 and the ratio of the signal wave to the interference wave.

The terminal information transmission control unit 152 is activated when group communication is started, and performs control to transmit terminal information acquired by the terminal information acquisition unit 151 from the communication unit 102 to the communication management apparatus 200 during group communication.
The terminal information transmission control unit 152 monitors, for example, changes in terminal information acquired by the terminal information acquisition unit 151, and transmits the terminal information when changes occur. Alternatively, the terminal information may be transmitted at a constant cycle regardless of whether or not the terminal information has changed, or when a terminal information transmission request is received by the communication unit 102, the terminal information is transmitted in response to the request. You may send.

  The PTT transmission control unit 154 performs data transmission control in PTT group communication. That is, when participating in PTT group communication, in accordance with an instruction input from the key input unit 103, data such as voice is transmitted from the communication unit 102 to a communication terminal participating in another PTT communication via the communication management device 200. To do.

  The PTT reception control unit 155 performs data reception control in PTT group communication. That is, when participating in PTT group communication, the communication unit 102 receives transmission data from another communication terminal transmitted from the communication management apparatus 200. When the received data is audio data or music data, the data is supplied to the audio processing unit 104 and output from the speaker 105 as audio or music. When the received data is image data or character data, This is converted into a video signal, supplied to the display processing unit 107, and displayed as an image or a character.

Next, the configuration of the communication management apparatus 200 will be described.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the communication management apparatus 200.
For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the communication management apparatus 200 includes a communication unit 201, a user interface unit 202, a storage unit 203, and a control unit 204.

  The communication unit 201 of the management apparatus performs processing related to communication via the communication network 300. For example, when performing group communication by PTT, the communication management apparatus 200 is connected to an IP (internet protocol) network. The communication unit 201 of the management apparatus performs processing related to data transmission / reception via the IP network.

  The user interface unit 202 inputs and outputs information for operating the communication management device 200 such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a display device.

  The storage unit 203 of the management apparatus stores various types of data used in the processing of the control unit 204 of the management apparatus and data of processing results of the control unit 204 of the management apparatus. For example, the computer program of the control unit 204, constant data used for the processing, variable data that needs to be temporarily stored during the processing, and the like are stored.

  In addition, the storage unit 203 of the management apparatus stores a database 241 in which terminal information of each communication terminal participating in the ongoing PTT group communication is associated with identification information (such as a telephone number) of each communication terminal.

  The control unit 204 of the management apparatus performs various controls related to the overall operation of the communication management apparatus 200. For example, when a start of group communication is requested from one communication terminal, a communication session is established by calling the other communication terminal, or data is transmitted to one communication terminal in response to a data transmission request from each communication terminal Control is performed to give authority and to transmit various information (information on communication terminals participating in group communication) to each communication terminal.

  For example, the control unit 204 of the management apparatus has a computer that executes processing based on a program (operating system, application, etc.) stored in the storage unit 203 of the management apparatus, and executes processing according to the procedure of the program.

  The control unit 204 of the management apparatus includes a terminal information reception control unit 251, a data conversion unit 252, a PTT transmission control unit 253, and a PTT reception control unit 254 as processing blocks related to PTT group communication.

The terminal information reception control unit 251 receives terminal information transmitted from each communication terminal by the communication unit 201 of the management apparatus and stores it in the database 241 of the storage unit 203 of the management apparatus.
For example, when new terminal information is sent from a communication terminal participating in group communication, the terminal information reception control unit 251 updates old terminal information registered in the database 241 to new terminal information. When a communication terminal newly participates in group communication, the identification information and terminal information of the communication terminal are newly registered in the database 241.

  When data transmitted from one communication terminal to another communication terminal is received by the communication unit 201 of the management apparatus, the data conversion unit 252 transmits the received data to the database 241 for each destination communication terminal. Convert to data according to the terminal information.

For example, if the data amount that can be received by a certain communication terminal indicated in the terminal information is smaller than the size of data to be transmitted or if there is not enough room, the data conversion unit 252 transmits data to this communication terminal. Conversion is performed to reduce the size of. For example, the size of the transmission data is reduced so as not to exceed a predetermined ratio with respect to the receivable data amount. For example, in the case of image data, the data size can be converted by adjusting the image size or compression rate or changing the encoding method.
Data conversion when the amount of data that can be received by the communication terminal is smaller than a predetermined lower limit value, or when the data size cannot be reduced so as not to exceed a predetermined ratio with respect to the amount of data that can be received by the communication terminal. Unit 201 converts the transmission data into the discard notification described above.

  In addition, when the battery capacity or radio wave reception state of a certain communication terminal indicated in the terminal information is worse than a certain level, the data conversion unit 252 further reduces the size of data to be transmitted to the communication terminal or transmits the data. Convert data to discard notifications.

  Furthermore, if the format of data to be transmitted does not conform to the format of data that can be received by a certain communication terminal indicated by the terminal information, the data conversion unit 252 receives the format of the data to be transmitted to this communication terminal. It may be converted to a possible format.

  Note that the data conversion unit 252 does not need to convert the transmission data when the state of the communication terminal indicated by the terminal information determines that the data to be transmitted can be received without any problem.

  The PTT reception control unit 254 receives data transmitted from each communication terminal in the PTT group communication in the communication unit 201 of the management apparatus.

  The PTT transmission control unit 253 transmits data from the communication unit 201 of the management apparatus to each communication terminal in PTT group communication. That is, the data received by the communication unit 201 of the management apparatus and appropriately converted by the data conversion unit 252 is transmitted from the communication unit 201 of the management apparatus to the destination communication terminal.

  Here, an example of the operation of the communication system shown in FIG. 1 having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, in the communication terminal 100-1, when a user performs a predetermined operation for designating the address information of the communication terminals 100-2, 100-3, 100-4, and 100-5 and instructing the start of group communication, The terminal 100-1 connects to the communication management apparatus 200, notifies the communication management apparatus 200 of the address information of the communication terminals 100-2, 100-3, 100-4, and 100-5, and requests the start of group communication. . When the communication management apparatus 200 receives this start request, the communication management apparatus 200 responds to these terminals based on the address information of the communication terminals 100-2, 100-3, 100-4, and 100-5 included therein. Send a group communication start notification. Each communication terminal (100-2, 100-3, 100-4, 100-5) that has received the start notification has received the group communication start notification to the user using a notification means such as a display unit or a speaker. Inform you. When a predetermined input operation for accepting the start of group communication is performed, the communication terminal returns a response for accepting the start of group communication to the communication management apparatus 200. The communication management device 200 connects to the communication terminal that has transmitted this response signal, and starts group communication. When each communication terminal returns a response signal to the communication management apparatus 200 and starts group communication, the terminal information acquisition unit 151 grasps the state of the terminal and activates the terminal information transmission control unit 152.

When the remaining capacity of the reception folder in the storage unit for storing the reception data is successively reduced in communication terminal 100-2 (step ST101), communication terminal 100-2 communicates terminal information including information on the reception folder capacity. It transmits to the management apparatus 200 (step ST102).
Further, when the level of the remaining battery level in communication terminal 100-3 decreases (step ST103), communication terminal 100-3 transmits terminal information including the remaining battery level information to communication management apparatus 200 (step ST104).
Further, in communication terminal 100-4, when the level of the radio wave reception state calculated from the state of the radio wave received by communication unit 102 via antenna 101 decreases (step ST105), communication terminal 100-4 receives the radio wave. Terminal information including state information is transmitted to the communication management apparatus 200 (step ST106).

  When receiving the terminal information transmitted from communication terminals 100-2 to 100-5, communication management apparatus 200 updates database 241 with the received terminal information (steps ST101 to ST105).

Communication terminal 100-1 once transmits data to be transmitted to other communication terminals 100-2 to 100-5 to communication management apparatus 200 (step ST107).
When the image data is sent from the communication terminal 100-1, the communication management apparatus 200 reads the terminal information of the communication terminals 100-2 to 100-5 from the database 241. And the data transmitted to each communication terminal are each converted into the data according to terminal information (step ST109).

  Since the remaining capacity of the reception folder is small in the communication terminal 100-2, the communication management apparatus 200 reduces the image data transmitted from the communication terminal 100-1 and transmits it to the communication terminal 100-2 (step). ST110).

On the other hand, in the communication terminal 100-3, the level of the remaining battery level is lower than a predetermined value, and in the communication terminal 100-4, the level of the radio wave reception state is reduced to a level just outside the service area. There is a high possibility that it cannot be received. Therefore, the communication management device 200 transmits a discard notification to the communication terminals 100-3 and 100-4, respectively (steps ST111 and ST112).
Receiving the discard notification, the communication terminals 100-3 and 100-4 display a message notifying that the data has been discarded by the communication management apparatus 200 on each display unit 107 (steps ST113 and ST114).

  Further, since the communication terminal 100-5 has the remaining capacity of the reception folder, the remaining battery level, and the radio wave reception state, all of which can receive the image data from the communication terminal 100-1, the communication management apparatus 200 has the communication terminal 100- The image data from 1 is transmitted as it is to the communication terminal 100-5.

  When data transmission to communication terminals 100-2 to 100-5 is completed, communication management apparatus 200 notifies communication terminal 100-1 of the transmission result (step ST115). That is, the communication terminal 100-2 transmits the reduced image data, the communication terminals 100-3 and 100-4 transmit the discard notification, and the communication terminal 100-5 transmits the same image data as the original. Notify the communication terminal 100-1. Receiving this notification, communication terminal 100-1 displays the content of the notification on display unit 107 (step ST116).

  In this way, the group communication is continued. However, when a communication termination operation is performed at the communication terminal 100-1 that is the organizer of the group communication, the communication communication is performed from the communication terminal 100-1 to the communication management apparatus 200. A termination request is sent. Upon receiving this end request from the organizer's communication terminal 100-1, the communication management device 200 transmits a group communication end notification to the participant's communication terminals (100-2 to 100-5). Upon receiving the end notification, the communication terminal ends the program for executing the group communication process, ends the process of the terminal information transmission control unit 152, and returns to the waiting state.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the terminal information regarding the data reception capability is acquired in each of the communication terminals (100-1, 100-2, 100-3,...) Participating in the group communication. The terminal information thus transmitted is transmitted to the communication management apparatus 200. In the communication management device 200, terminal information sent from each communication terminal is registered in the database 241. When data is transmitted from one communication terminal among a plurality of communication terminals (100-1, 100-2, 100-3,...) To other communication terminals, the data is transmitted to the communication management apparatus 200. Once received. Then, each destination communication terminal is converted into data corresponding to the terminal information registered in the database 241, and the converted data is transmitted to each destination communication terminal.
Thereby, even when the states of the communication terminals participating in the one-to-many group communication are different, each communication terminal can receive appropriate data according to each state. In addition, since the data conversion is appropriately performed in the communication management apparatus 200 according to the state of the receiving communication terminal, the receiving communication terminal does not require a troublesome operation such as selecting whether or not reception is possible. You can promote many-to-many communication smoothly.

In addition, when it is determined that the state of the receiving communication terminal indicated by the terminal information is deteriorated from a certain level and the data transmitted from the transmitting communication terminal cannot be received, the communication management device Data to be transmitted from 200 to the receiving communication terminal is discarded, and the discard notification is transmitted to the communication terminal.
As a result, by forcibly transmitting data to a communication terminal in a state where data cannot be received, the remaining battery level of the communication terminal is exhausted, the remaining capacity of the reception folder is lost, and unnecessary reception waiting time occurs. To avoid problems.

For example, the base station allocates a channel for performing communication using a communication method having a low error rate but a low data rate to a communication terminal having a poor radio wave condition so as to continue communication. Therefore, when very large size data is transmitted, a communication terminal with a poor radio wave reception state requires a longer time to complete data acquisition than a communication terminal with a good state. If you receive a large amount of data over a long period of time when the radio wave reception status is very low, such as just before going out of service, there is a probability that you will fall out of service before completing data acquisition and fail to receive it. Get higher. Therefore, when the radio wave reception state is worse than a certain level, it may be preferable to give up data acquisition.
In addition, since it takes a long time to acquire large size data, it is necessary to drive the communication unit for a longer time. If such data acquisition is performed in a state where the remaining battery level is low, the battery is consumed rapidly, and the battery may be depleted before data acquisition is completed. Therefore, it may be preferable to give up data acquisition even when the remaining battery level is lower than a certain level.
Further, when the remaining memory capacity is less than the predetermined amount, it may be preferable not to acquire data from the beginning because unnecessary communication is not required.
Therefore, according to the present embodiment in which the transmission data is discarded based on the reception state of the radio wave, the remaining battery level, the remaining memory capacity, and the like, it is possible to effectively avoid the inconvenience as described above when the data is forcibly transmitted.

  In addition, even if the receiving communication terminal falls into a state where it is difficult to receive data, the communication management apparatus 200 appropriately notifies the receiving communication terminal that the data has been discarded. Can be prevented from being discarded and a discrepancy in recognition between the transmitting side and the receiving side can be prevented, and one-to-many communication can proceed smoothly.

  Next, a modification of the above-described embodiment will be described.

  In the example of the embodiment described above, data conversion is performed according to the state of the receiving communication terminal in the communication management apparatus 200. However, each communication terminal participating in group communication may perform processing corresponding to this. .

  That is, in this modification, each communication terminal that participates in group communication acquires terminal information related to data reception capability, and transmits it to other communication terminals. Each communication terminal participating in group communication receives terminal information transmitted from another communication terminal, and stores this in each storage unit. When one communication terminal participating in group communication transmits data to another communication terminal, the communication terminal of the transmission source determines whether or not the other communication terminal can receive the data, according to the above terminal information. judge. Then, the data is transmitted to the communication terminal determined to be receivable, and the transmission of the data is not sent to the communication terminal determined to be unreceivable. The transmission source communication terminal notifies the communication terminal that has forgotten data transmission by e-mail or the like.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a modification of the communication terminal according to the present embodiment, and the same reference numerals in FIGS. 2 and 6 denote the same components. A communication terminal 100A shown in FIG. 6 is obtained by replacing the control unit 109 in the communication terminal 100 shown in FIG. 2 with a control unit 109A, and other components are the same as those of the communication terminal 100 shown in FIG.

  The terminal control unit 109A has a computer that comprehensively controls the overall operation of the electronic device and executes processing based on a program stored in the storage unit 108 of the terminal, for example. The terminal control unit 109A includes a terminal information acquisition unit 151, a terminal information transmission control unit 152, a terminal information reception control unit 153, a PTT transmission control unit 154, and a PTT reception as processing blocks related to PTT group communication. A control unit 155 and a determination unit 156 are included.

  The terminal information acquisition unit 151 acquires terminal information related to the reception capability of the communication terminal 100 in the same manner as the components with the same reference numerals in FIG.

The terminal information transmission control unit 152 performs control to transmit the terminal information acquired by the terminal information acquisition unit 151 from the communication unit 102 to other communication terminals participating in the group communication.
The terminal information transmission control unit 152 may transmit the terminal information when the terminal information acquired in the terminal information acquisition unit 151 changes, similarly to the components with the same reference numerals in FIG. The terminal information may be transmitted at a constant cycle regardless of whether or not there is a change. Alternatively, when a transmission instruction from the communication management apparatus 200 is received by the communication unit 102, terminal information may be transmitted in response to the transmission instruction.

  The terminal information reception control unit 153 receives terminal information transmitted from other communication terminals participating in the group communication in the communication unit 102 and stores it in the storage unit 108 of the terminal. For example, a database 141 in which terminal information of each communication terminal participating in the group communication is associated with identification information (such as a telephone number) of each communication terminal is configured in the storage unit 108 of the terminal.

  When transmitting data from the communication unit 102 to another communication terminal, the determination unit 156 determines whether each transmission destination communication terminal can receive data according to the terminal information registered in the database 141. For example, when the size of the data to be transmitted exceeds a predetermined ratio with respect to the receivable data amount indicated by the terminal information, or the battery capacity or radio wave reception state indicated in the terminal information reaches a certain level. If not, the determination unit 156 determines that the communication terminal corresponding to the terminal information is in a state where it cannot receive data.

The PTT transmission control unit 154 performs data transmission control in PTT group communication. That is, when participating in PTT group communication, in accordance with an instruction input from the key input unit 103, data such as voice is transmitted from the communication unit 102 to a communication terminal participating in another PTT communication via the communication management device 200. To do.
However, the PTT transmission control unit 154 transmits the data only to the communication terminal that is determined by the determination unit 156 to be able to receive the data, and transmits the data to the communication terminal that is determined to be unable to receive the data. Send small-size data (send-to-send notification) to notify you that you have sent off. The transmission postponing notification may be transmitted directly to another communication terminal by e-mail or the like, or may be transmitted via a communication management device.

The PTT reception control unit 155 performs data reception control in PTT group communication. That is, when participating in PTT group communication, the communication unit 102 receives transmission data from another communication terminal transmitted from the communication management apparatus 200. When the received data is audio data or music data, the data is supplied to the audio processing unit 104 and output from the speaker 105 as audio or music. When the received data is image data or character data, This is converted into a video signal, supplied to the display processing unit 107, and displayed as an image or a character.
In addition, when the communication unit 102 receives a transmission postponement notification from another communication terminal, the PTT reception control unit 155 sends a message notifying the display unit 107 that data transmission has been postponed by the other communication terminal. indicate.

The above is the description of the communication terminal 100A.
When using such a communication terminal 100A, the communication management apparatus may omit the data conversion process according to the terminal information. That is, the terminal reception control unit 251 and the data conversion unit 252 may be omitted in the communication management apparatus 200 illustrated in FIG. A device in which these units are omitted from the communication management device 200 is hereinafter referred to as a communication management device 200A.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the communication system having the communication terminal 100A and the communication management apparatus 200A described above.

  First, in communication terminal 100A-1, when a user performs a predetermined operation for designating the address information of communication terminals 100A-2, 100A-3, 100A-4, and 100A-5 and instructing the start of group communication, The terminal 100A-1 connects to the communication management apparatus 200A, notifies the communication management apparatus 200A of the address information of the communication terminals 100A-2, 100A-3, 100A-4, and 100A-5, and requests the start of group communication. . When the communication management apparatus 200A receives this start request, the communication management apparatus 200A makes a response to these terminals based on the address information of the communication terminals 100A-2, 100A-3, 100A-4, and 100A-5 included therein. Send a group communication start notification. Each communication terminal (100A-2, 100A-3, 100A-4, 100A-5) that has received the start notification has received the group communication start notification to the user using notification means such as a display unit or a speaker. Inform you. When a predetermined input operation for accepting the start of the group communication is performed, the communication terminal returns a response for accepting the start of the group communication to the communication management apparatus 200A. The communication management device 200A connects to the communication terminal that has transmitted this response signal, and starts group communication. When each communication terminal returns a response signal to the communication management apparatus 200A and starts group communication, the terminal information acquisition unit 151 grasps the state of the terminal and activates the terminal information transmission control unit 152.

  When the level of the remaining battery level decreases in communication terminal 100A-1 (step ST201), communication terminal 100A-1 transmits terminal information including the remaining battery level information to communication terminals 100A-2 to 100A-5 ( Steps ST202 to ST205).

  When the communication terminals 100A-2 to 100A-5 receive the terminal information transmitted from the communication terminal 100A-1, the communication terminals 100A-1 store the terminal information of the communication terminals 100A-1 registered in the respective databases 141 by the received terminal information. Update (steps ST206 to ST209).

  Communication terminal 100A-2 temporarily transmits data to be transmitted to other communication terminals (100A-1, ST100A-3, 100A-4, 100A-5) to communication management apparatus 200 (step ST210). At this time, communication terminal 100A-2 determines that communication terminal 100A-1 is in a state where it cannot receive data due to a decrease in the remaining battery level, based on the terminal information in database 141. When transmitting data to the communication management apparatus 200A, a request is transmitted to the communication management apparatus 200 so that the data is not transmitted to the communication terminal 100A-1.

In addition, communication terminal 100A-2 transmits a transmission postponement notification by e-mail or the like to communication terminal 100A-1 that has deferred transmission of data (step ST211).
The communication terminal 100A-1 that has received this transmission postponement notification displays a message notifying that the transmission of data from the communication terminal 100A-1 has been postponed on the display unit 107 (step ST212).

In response to a request from the communication terminal 100A-2, the communication management apparatus 200A transmits the data transmitted from the communication terminal 100A-2 to other communication terminals (ST100A-3, 100A-4, 100A-) other than the communication terminal 100A-1. 5) (steps ST213, ST214, ST215).
When data transmission to communication terminals 100A-3 to 100A-5 is completed, communication management apparatus 200A notifies communication terminal 100A-2 of the transmission result (step ST216). That is, it notifies the other communication terminals 100A-3 to 100A-5 other than the communication terminal 100A-1 that data has been transmitted. Receiving this notification, communication terminal 100A-2 displays the content of the notification on display unit 107 (step ST217).

  In this way, group communication is continued, but when communication termination operation is performed in communication terminal 100A-1 which is the organizer of group communication, communication of the group communication is performed from communication terminal 100A-1 to communication management apparatus 200. A termination request is sent. Upon receiving this end request from the organizer's communication terminal 100A-1, the communication management apparatus 200 transmits a group communication end notification to the participant's communication terminals (100A-2 to 100A-5). Upon receiving the end notification, the communication terminal ends the program for executing the group communication process, ends the process of the terminal information transmission control unit 152, and returns to the waiting state.

According to the modification of the present embodiment described above, when data is transmitted from one communication terminal participating in group communication to a plurality of other communication terminals, the data to the communication terminal in a state where the data cannot be received The transmission is postponed.
Therefore, by forcibly transmitting data to a communication terminal in a bad state, the battery remaining in the communication terminal is exhausted, the remaining capacity of the reception folder is lost, and unnecessary reception waiting time is avoided. I can do it.
In addition, even if the receiving communication terminal falls into a state where it is difficult to receive data, the receiving communication terminal is appropriately notified that the data transmission has been missed, so the data is discarded without the user's knowledge. It is possible to prevent a recognition shift between the transmission side and the reception side, and to facilitate one-to-many communication.

  Up to this point, the embodiment of the present invention and one modification thereof have been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to group communication by PTT has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also be applied to various other group communications that perform one-to-many data communications.

  The processing of the control unit 109 (109A) of the communication terminal and the processing of the control unit 204 of the communication management device may all be executed by a computer based on a program, or at least a part thereof may be executed by hardware. Also good.

  The mobile terminal of the present invention is not limited to a mobile phone. For example, the present invention can be widely applied to terminal devices having communication functions such as PDA (personal digital assistants) and portable game machines.

It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of the communication system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of the communication terminal which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the terminal information which a terminal information acquisition part acquires. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of a communication management apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the communication system shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the modification of the communication terminal which concerns on this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the communication system which has the communication terminal shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Antenna, 102, 201 ... Communication part, 103 ... Key input part, 104 ... Sound processing part, 105 ... Speaker, 106 ... Microphone, 107 ... Display part, 108, 203 ... Memory | storage part, 109, 109A, 204 ... Control Part, 100, 100A ... communication terminal, 200 ... communication management device, 300 ... communication network

Claims (13)

A communication method in which one of a plurality of communication terminals performing wireless communication transmits data to a plurality of other communication terminals via a management device,
A first step in which each of the plurality of communication terminals obtains first information regarding data reception capability;
A second step in which each of the plurality of communication terminals transmits the acquired first information to a management device;
A third step in which the management device receives the first information transmitted from each communication terminal and stores the received first information;
A fourth step in which one communication terminal of the plurality of communication terminals transmits data to the other plurality of communication terminals;
The management device receives data transmitted from the first communication terminal, converts the data into data corresponding to the first information for each communication terminal, and converts the converted data to the other plurality of communication And a fifth step of transmitting to the terminal. A communication method in which one of a plurality of communication terminals performing wireless communication transmits data to another plurality of communication terminals,
A first step in which each of the plurality of communication terminals obtains first information regarding data reception capability;
A second step in which each of the plurality of communication terminals transmits the acquired first information to another plurality of communication terminals;
A third step in which each of the plurality of communication terminals receives the first information transmitted from the other plurality of communication terminals, and stores the received first information;
When one communication terminal of the plurality of communication terminals transmits data to another communication terminal, it is determined whether or not each of the plurality of other communication terminals can receive data according to the first information. And a fourth step of transmitting data to the communication terminal determined to be receivable. A communication system comprising a plurality of communication terminals for performing wireless communication and a management device, wherein one of the plurality of communication terminals transmits data to a plurality of other communication terminals,
The communication terminal is
A terminal-side communication unit that communicates with the management device;
An information acquisition unit for acquiring first information relating to data reception capability;
A first terminal-side transmission control unit that causes the terminal-side communication unit to transmit the first information acquired in the information acquisition unit to the management device;
A second terminal-side transmission control unit that causes the terminal-side communication unit to transmit data to be sent to a plurality of other communication terminals to the management device;
A terminal-side reception control unit that receives transmission data from another communication terminal transmitted from the management device at the terminal-side communication unit;
Have
The management device
A management-side communication unit that communicates with the communication terminal;
A storage unit;
A first management-side reception control unit that receives the first information transmitted from each of the plurality of communication terminals in the management-side communication unit, and stores the received first information in the storage unit;
A second management-side reception control unit that receives data transmitted from one communication terminal of the plurality of communication terminals at the management-side communication unit;
A data conversion unit that converts data received by the second management-side reception control unit into data corresponding to the first information of the storage unit for each communication terminal;
A management-side transmission control unit that transmits data converted by the data conversion unit from the management-side communication unit to a communication terminal other than the first communication terminal. The communication system according to claim 3, wherein the information acquisition unit acquires information related to at least one of a receivable data amount, a remaining battery level, and a radio wave reception state as the first information. . The first terminal-side transmission control unit transmits the first information from the terminal-side communication unit when the first information acquired by the information acquisition unit changes or at a constant cycle. The communication system according to claim 3 or 4. The data conversion unit discards the data transmitted from the first communication terminal received by the second management-side reception control unit according to the first information stored in the storage unit, and discards the data The communication system according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the communication data is converted into notification data for notification. A communication terminal used in a communication system in which one of a plurality of communication terminals performing wireless communication transmits data to another plurality of communication terminals,
A communication unit communicating with the communication system;
An information acquisition unit for acquiring first information relating to data reception capability;
A first transmission control unit configured to transmit the first information acquired in the information acquisition unit from the communication unit;
A second transmission control unit that causes the communication unit to transmit data addressed to other communication terminals;
A reception control unit that receives transmission data from another communication terminal converted according to the first information at the communication unit;
A communication terminal comprising: A communication terminal used in a communication system in which one of a plurality of communication terminals performing wireless communication transmits data to another plurality of communication terminals,
A communication unit that communicates with a plurality of other communication terminals;
An information acquisition unit for acquiring first information relating to data reception capability;
A first transmission control unit configured to transmit the first information acquired in the information acquisition unit from the communication unit;
A reception control unit that receives, in the communication unit, the first information transmitted from a plurality of other communication terminals;
In accordance with the received first information, it is determined whether or not each of a plurality of other communication terminals can receive data, and second transmission for transmitting data from the communication unit to the communication terminal that has determined that data can be received. A communication terminal comprising: a control unit. 9. The information acquisition unit according to claim 7, wherein the information acquisition unit acquires, as the first information, information related to at least one of a receivable data amount, a remaining battery level, and a radio wave reception state. Communication terminal. The first transmission control unit transmits the first information from the communication unit when the first information acquired by the information acquisition unit changes or at a constant cycle. The communication terminal according to any one of 7 to 9. A display unit for displaying information;
When the communication unit receives a discard notification from the communication system for notifying that transmission data from another communication terminal is discarded according to the first information, the reception control unit The communication terminal according to claim 7, wherein a message based on the message is displayed on the display unit. A display unit for displaying information;
The determination unit determines whether each of the other plurality of communication terminals can receive data having a specific size,
The second transmission control unit sends a transmission postponement notification from the communication unit to notify the communication terminal that has determined that the data having a specific size cannot be received by the determination unit, to forego transmission of the data. When the transmission control unit receives the transmission postponement notification from another communication terminal, the display unit displays a message notifying that the transmission of data is postponed in the other communication terminal. The communication terminal according to claim 8, wherein the communication terminal is displayed. The communication terminal according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the first transmission control unit operates while receiving a group communication start notification by the communication unit and performing the group communication. .

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