JP2018011326A - Communication device, communication line switching method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication device capable of suppressing a processing load of a processor and increase of power consumption when deciding whether to switch a communication line.SOLUTION: A communication device 70 comprises: a history information holding part 41 for holding a position that is identified by a GPS as a position where a communication line is switched by operation of a user, as history information; a positional information acquisition part 42 for acquiring the position that is identified by the GPS, as present positional information; and a decision part 43 for deciding whether to switch a communication line being used for a communication with a connection base station that is being connected at present, to the other communication line based on whether a position indicated in the positional information is included within a predetermined area that is determined by using the position indicated in the history information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication device, a communication line switching method, and a program. For example, the present invention relates to a communication device, a communication line switching method, and a program that switch and use a plurality of communication lines.

  In recent years, smartphones are rapidly spreading. Many users download a large amount of data for video playback using a smartphone, and the capacity of the wireless communication line between the base station and the smartphone becomes tight. Therefore, the mobile communication carrier forms a wireless LAN communication area capable of performing wireless LAN communication in addition to the mobile communication area formed by the base station, and offloads traffic in the mobile communication area to the wireless LAN communication area. ing. Thereby, congestion of the radio communication line in the mobile communication area can be avoided.

  Patent Document 1 describes a configuration of a mobile communication terminal device having a wireless LAN interface and a mobile phone interface. The mobile communication terminal described in Patent Document 1 performs switching control between a wireless LAN interface and a mobile phone interface according to the mobile communication speed. For example, when a mobile communication terminal device performs communication using a mobile phone interface during high-speed movement, even when moving to a wireless LAN communication area, the mobile communication terminal device does not switch to the wireless LAN interface and uses the mobile phone interface. to continue. This avoids frequent switching of interfaces in a short period of time.

JP 2004-72136 A

  However, the mobile communication terminal device described in Patent Document 1 determines whether or not to switch between the mobile phone interface and the wireless LAN interface while moving, that is, whether or not to switch the communication line. In addition, it is necessary to calculate the moving speed. For example, the mobile communication terminal apparatus calculates the moving speed every time it approaches the boundary between the mobile communication area and the wireless LAN communication area. In general, since the wireless LAN communication area is small, a mobile communication device moving at high speed may pass through the wireless LAN communication area in a short period of time.

  Therefore, when the mobile communication terminal is moving at high speed, it is necessary to frequently execute processing for calculating the moving speed in a short period of time. As described above, there is a problem that the processing load of the processor is increased and the power consumption is increased by executing the processing for frequently calculating the moving speed in a short time.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a communication device, a communication line switching method, and a program capable of suppressing an increase in processing load and power consumption of a processor when determining whether or not to switch communication lines.

  The communication device according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a history information holding unit that holds, as history information, a position specified by GPS as a position at which a communication line is switched by a user operation, and a position specified by GPS. Based on whether the position indicated in the position information is within a predetermined area determined by using the position indicated in the history information. A determination unit that determines whether or not to switch the communication line used in communication with the connected base station to another communication line.

  In the communication line switching method according to the second aspect of the present invention, the position specified by the GPS is stored as history information as the position where the communication line is switched by the user's operation, and the position specified by the GPS is the current position. Based on whether or not the position indicated in the position information is acquired within the predetermined area determined using the position indicated in the history information, It is determined whether or not the communication line used in this communication is switched to another communication line.

  The program according to the third aspect of the present invention holds, as history information, a position specified by GPS as a position where a communication line is switched by a user operation, and uses a position specified by GPS as current position information. In communication with the currently connected base station based on whether the position indicated in the position information is within a predetermined area determined using the position indicated in the history information. The computer executes a process for determining whether or not to switch the communication line in use to another communication line.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a communication device, a communication line switching method, and a program that can suppress an increase in the processing load and power consumption of a processor when determining whether or not to switch a communication line.

1 is a configuration diagram of a communication apparatus according to a first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a communication apparatus according to a second embodiment. It is a figure explaining that the communication apparatus concerning Embodiment 2 moves between cells. It is a figure explaining the line switching log | history information concerning Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a figure explaining that the communication apparatus concerning Embodiment 2 moves between cells. It is a figure which shows the flow of a recording process of the line switching log | history information concerning Embodiment 2. FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a flow of line switching processing according to the second exemplary embodiment. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a communication apparatus according to a third embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a flow of recording processing of line switching history information according to the third exemplary embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a flow of line switching processing according to the third exemplary embodiment.

(Embodiment 1)
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. A configuration example of the communication device 10 according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The communication device 10 establishes a communication line with the base station 20 or the base station 30 and communicates. In FIG. 1, it is assumed that the communication device 10 is currently connected to the base station 20 for communication.

  The communication device 10 may be a mobile phone terminal, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a mobile router, or the like. The communication device 10 may be a computer device that operates when a processor executes a program stored in a memory.

  The base station 20 and the base station 30 perform mobile communication with the communication apparatus 10 using a predetermined wireless communication method. The predetermined wireless communication system may be a communication system defined by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), or may be a communication system defined by other standardization organizations. The communication system defined by 3GPP may be, for example, LTE (Long Term Evolution).

  The communication device 10 includes a history information holding unit 11, a position information acquisition unit 12, and a determination unit 13. The history information holding unit 11, the position information acquisition unit 12, and the determination unit 13 may be software, a module, or the like that performs processing when the processor executes a program stored in a memory. Alternatively, the history information holding unit 11, the position information acquisition unit 12, and the determination unit 13 may be configured by hardware such as a circuit or a chip.

  When the communication line is switched by the user's operation, the history information holding unit 11 identifies the connected base station connected before the communication line is switched and the neighboring base stations located around the connected base station. Holds identification information. For example, it is assumed that the communication device 10 is connected to the base station 20 before the communication line is switched by a user operation. Further, it is assumed that the base station 30 is located around the base station 20.

  The switching of the communication line by the user's operation means, for example, that the user switches the mobile communication line used for communicating with the base station 20 to the wireless LAN communication line for communicating with the access point. May be. In other words, if the communication line is switched by the user's operation, when the user determines that the user has moved to the wireless LAN communication area while performing mobile communication with the base station 20, the user can manually switch to the access point. An operation for performing wireless LAN communication may be executed.

  The communication device 10 receives, for example, a pilot signal, a reference signal, a beacon, or the like periodically transmitted from the base station 20 and the base station 30 to obtain identification information of the base station 20 and the base station 30 as a history information holding unit. 11 is held.

  The position information acquisition unit 12 acquires the identification information of the currently connected base station 20 and the identification information of the base stations 30 located around the currently connected base station 20. The currently connected base station is a base station that sets a communication line with the communication apparatus 10 and transmits / receives data via the communication line. A base station located in the vicinity is a base station that does not set a communication line with the communication device 10 but transmits a pilot signal or the like received by the communication device 10.

  The determination unit 13 uses the information held in the history information holding unit 11 and the information acquired in the position information acquisition unit 12 to use a communication line used in communication with the currently connected base station 20. Is switched to another communication line.

  For example, the currently connected base station 20 acquired in the position information acquisition unit 12 and the base stations 30 located around the base station 20 are connected base stations and peripheral bases held in the history information holding unit 11. Suppose it matches the station. In this case, there is a high possibility that the communication device 10 is located at substantially the same place as the place where the communication line was previously switched by the user's operation.

  Therefore, the determination unit 13 may determine that the communication line currently used for communication with the base station 20 is switched to another communication line such as a wireless LAN communication line regardless of the user operation. In addition, the determination unit 13 is configured such that at least one of the currently connected base station 20 and the base station 30 located in the vicinity of the base station 20 is connected to the connected base station and the neighboring base station held in the history information holding unit 11. If they match, the communication line currently used for communication with the base station 20 may be determined to be switched to another communication line such as a wireless LAN communication line.

  Here, the substantially same place may be a place that is a predetermined distance away from the place that was previously located when the communication line was switched by the user's operation.

  As described above, when the communication line 10 is switched by the user's operation, the communication device 10 in FIG. 1 identifies the connected base station identification information and the surroundings of the connected base station that were connected before the communication line was switched. It is possible to hold the identification information of the neighboring base stations located at.

  Furthermore, the determination unit 13 determines whether to switch the communication line to another communication line using the information held in the history information holding unit 11 and the information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 12. Can do.

  The determination unit 13 can determine whether or not to switch the communication line by comparing the information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 12 and the information stored in the history information storage unit 11. It can be said that the processing load of the processor when the information comparison processing is executed is smaller or lighter than the processing load of the processor when the calculation processing for calculating the moving speed is performed.

  Therefore, the communication device 10 can reduce the processing load of the processor as compared with the case where it is determined whether or not to switch the communication line using the result of calculating the moving speed and the power consumption. It is also possible to suppress the increase of.

  Further, the communication device 10 uses the information acquired in the state where only the communication line used for performing communication with the base station 20 or the base station 30 is enabled, so that the currently used communication line is transferred to other communication. Whether or not to switch to a line can be determined. In other words, the communication device 10 can determine whether or not to switch the mobile communication line to the wireless LAN communication line in a state where only the mobile communication line is enabled. That is, the communication device 10 does not need to enable both the mobile communication line and the wireless LAN communication line. Therefore, the communication device 10 can reduce the number of communication lines to be activated as compared with the case where both the mobile communication line and the wireless LAN communication line are valid, and as a result, the power consumption can be suppressed. it can.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, a configuration example of the communication device 40 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The communication device 40 includes a history information holding unit 41, a position information acquisition unit 42, a determination unit 43, a LAN line connection unit 44, a WAN line connection unit 45, and a communication control unit 46. Further, the WAN line connection unit 45 includes a wireless LAN line connection unit 51 and a mobile line connection unit 52.

  The communication device 40 corresponds to the communication device 10 in FIG. History information holding unit 41, position information acquisition unit 42, determination unit 43, LAN line connection unit 44, WAN line connection unit 45, communication control unit 46, wireless LAN line connection unit 51, and mobile line connection unit constituting communication device 40 Each component of 52 may be software, a module, or the like that is executed by a processor executing a program stored in a memory. Or each component which comprises the communication apparatus 40 may be comprised by hardware, such as a circuit or a chip | tip.

  Regarding the history information holding unit 41, the position information acquisition unit 42, and the determination unit 43, functions or operations different from those of the history information holding unit 11, the position information acquisition unit 12, and the determination unit 13 in FIG.

  The WAN line connection unit 45 is connected to a base station that performs mobile communication or an access point that performs wireless LAN communication. When the WAN line connection unit 45 is connected to a base station or an access point, the WAN line connection unit 45 sets a wireless communication line between the base station or the access point and transmits / receives data to / from the base station or the access point. It may be in a state where it can be performed.

  When the WAN line connection unit 45 is connected to a base station, a mobile communication line is set between the mobile line connection unit 52 and the base station. When the WAN line connection unit 45 is connected to an access point, a wireless LAN communication line is set between the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 and the access point.

  The LAN line connection unit 44 is connected to a child device such as a mobile phone, a smartphone, or a personal computer. The LAN line connection unit 44 may perform wireless LAN communication with the slave unit, or may perform short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) or infrared communication. When the LAN line connection unit 44 is connected to the slave unit, the LAN line connection unit 44 operates as a master unit. The operation as the parent device may be, for example, an authentication process related to the child device.

  The communication control unit 46 controls switching between the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 and the mobile line connection unit 52 according to the communication line to be used. When the communication device 40 is activated, the communication control unit 46 switches between the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 and the mobile line connection unit 52 to search for a wireless LAN communication line using the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 and perform mobile A mobile communication line search using the line connection unit 52 is performed. The communication control unit 46 enables the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 when detecting a wireless LAN communication line by the search, and enables the mobile line connection unit 52 when detecting a mobile communication line. When the communication control unit 46 detects the wireless LAN communication line and the mobile communication line, it may be determined in advance which of the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 and the mobile line connection unit 52 is valid.

  After enabling the communication line detected by the search, the communication control unit 46 determines the wireless LAN line according to the switching instruction information input by the user operating the communication device 40 or the switching instruction information output from the determination unit 43. Switching between the connection unit 51 and the mobile line connection unit 52 is performed. Further, when the communication control unit 46 detects a decrease in signal strength or a decrease in radio field strength of a radio signal transmitted from the access point, the communication control unit 46 performs switching from the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 to the mobile line connection unit 52. May be.

  For example, when a user operating the communication device 40 moves to a position recognized as a wireless LAN communication area, switching instruction information for instructing switching to a wireless LAN communication line via an information input interface such as a touch panel or a button. Enter. Upon receiving the switching instruction information input by the user, the communication control unit 46 switches from the mobile line connection unit 52 to the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 to perform wireless LAN communication.

  Each time the connection base station of the mobile line connection unit 52 is switched, the history information holding unit 41 holds the identification information of the connection base station after switching and the identification information of the neighboring base stations located around the connection base station after switching. To do. The history information holding unit 41 holds the identification information of the connected base station and the changed identification information of the neighboring base station every time the neighboring base station located around the connected base station is changed.

  The history information holding unit 41, when switched from the mobile line connection unit 52 to the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 by the switching instruction information input by the user, identifies the connection base station to which the mobile line connection unit 52 was connected. And identification information of peripheral base stations located around the connected base station is held as line switching history information. Further, the history information holding unit 41 identifies the connected base station connected before the connected base station to which the mobile line connecting unit 52 was connected and the identification of neighboring base stations located around the connected base station. Information is also held as line switching history information. The history information holding unit 41 outputs the line switching history information to the determination unit 43.

  The line switching history information includes the connection base station connected to the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 immediately before switching from the mobile line connection unit 52 and its peripheral base station, and the connection base station connected immediately before and Information associated with identification information regarding the neighboring base station, the connected base station connected two times earlier, and the neighboring base station may also be used. The number of previously connected base stations to be connected and the identification information related to the neighboring base stations may be determined according to the amount of memory allocated to the information management area or the user settings.

  Each time the connection base station of the mobile line connection unit 52 is switched, the position information acquisition unit 42 acquires the identification information of the connection base station after switching and the identification information of the neighboring base stations located around the connection base station after switching. To do. The position information acquisition unit 42 acquires the identification information of the connected base station and the identification information of the neighboring base station after the change every time the neighboring base station located around the connected base station is changed. The position information acquisition unit 42 outputs the acquired identification information of the connected base station and the identification information of the neighboring base stations to the determination unit 43.

  The base station identification information may be, for example, a cell ID for identifying a cell formed by the base station. A cell is a communication area formed by a base station. Alternatively, the base station identification information may be a base station serial ID or another ID that uniquely identifies a plurality of base stations arranged in the network. Alternatively, the base station identification information may be a MAC address of the base station.

  Here, the line switching history information will be described with reference to FIG. Base station 21 forms cell A, base station 22 forms cell B, and base station 30 forms cell C. The access point (AP) 60 forms a wireless LAN communication area in the cell B.

  FIG. 3 shows that the communication device 40 has moved from the cell A to the cell B. It is assumed that the communication device 40 receives a pilot signal or the like transmitted from the cell C even when located in the cell A and when located in the cell B. Further, after the communication device 40 moves to the cell B, the user switches from the mobile line connection unit 52 to the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 and inputs a switching instruction signal for performing wireless LAN communication.

  At this time, in the line switching history information, as shown in FIG. 4, the identification information of the connecting base station connected until immediately before switching from the mobile line connecting unit 52 to the wireless LAN line connecting unit 51 is the cell B, The identification information of the neighboring base station is managed as the cell C. Further, in the line switching history information, the identification information of the connected base station that was connected immediately before is cell A, and its neighboring base stations are managed as cell C. As shown in FIG. 4, the frequency band and connection channel information of the access point to which the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 is connected may be set in the line switching history information.

  Returning to FIG. 2, the determination unit 43 uses the information output from the history information holding unit 41 and the position information acquisition unit 42 to switch from the mobile line connection unit 52 to the wireless LAN line connection unit 51. It is determined whether or not information is output to the communication control unit 46. Below, the determination process in the determination part 43 is demonstrated.

  The determination unit 43 includes a wireless LAN from the mobile line connection unit 52 in the identification information of the currently connected base station output from the position information acquisition unit 42 and the line switching history information output from the history information holding unit 41. The identification information of the connected base station connected until immediately before switching to the line connection unit 51 is compared (comparison process 1). Further, the determination unit 43 is connected until immediately before switching from the mobile line connection unit 52 to the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 in the identification information of the neighboring base stations of the currently connected base station and the line switching history information. Comparison is made with the identification information of the neighboring base stations of the connected base station (comparison process 2). Further, the determination unit 43 obtains the identification information of the connection base station connected before the currently connected base station and the identification information of the connection base station connected immediately before in the line switching history information. Compare (comparison process 3). Further, the determination unit 43 identifies the identification information of the neighboring base stations connected to the connected base station before the currently connected base station, and the connected base station connected immediately before in the line switching history information. The identification information of the neighboring base stations is compared (comparison process 4).

  In all the comparison processes 1 to 4, the determination unit 43 performs communication control on switching instruction information for instructing switching from the mobile line connection unit 52 to the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 when it is determined that the compared identification information matches. You may output to the part 46. The communication control unit 46 sets the wireless LAN communication line with the mobile line connection unit 52 by designating the frequency band and connection channel information of the switching destination access point set in the line switching history information.

  For example, the determination unit 43 receives the line switching history information shown in FIG. 4, and when the communication device 40 moves as shown in FIG. 3, the comparison identification information matches in all the comparison processes 1 to 4. Is determined.

  Further, the determination unit 43 receives the line switching information shown in FIG. 4 and, further, when the communication device 40 moves from the cell E to the cell B as shown in FIG. Match in cell B. However, in the comparison processes 2 to 4, the compared identification information does not match. The identification information of the neighboring base stations when the communication device 40 is located in the cell E and the cell B is a cell D.

  For example, the determination unit 43 may switch from the mobile line connection unit 52 to the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 when the compared identification information matches in all the comparison processes 1 to 4, or the determination unit 43 may When the identification information compared in three of the comparison processes 1 to 4 matches, the mobile line connection unit 52 may be switched to the wireless LAN line connection unit 51. The determination unit 43 may set the number of comparison results in the comparison processes 1 to 4 to switch from the mobile line connection unit 52 to the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 when the comparison results match.

  The comparison process is not limited to the comparison processes 1 to 4 described above, and may be performed five or more times according to the number of pieces of information held as the line switching history information.

  Subsequently, the flow of the recording process of the line switching history information according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, the communication device 40 sets the mobile communication line in use (S11). For example, it is assumed that the communication device 40 has moved from the cell A to the cell B as shown in FIG. 3 and is currently connected to the base station 22.

  Next, the communication device 40 performs a process of switching the mobile communication line to the wireless LAN communication line by an operation of a user who operates the communication apparatus 40 (S12). Next, the communication device 40 records the cell ID of the connected base station and the cell ID of the neighboring base station as position information (S13). For example, the history information holding unit 41 records the cell B formed by the base station 22 connected immediately before the switching process to the wireless LAN communication line is performed and the cell C located around the cell B. Further, the history information holding unit 41 records the cell A formed by the base station 21 connected before connecting to the base station 22 and the cell C positioned around the cell A.

  Next, the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 performs a wireless LAN communication line search in order to connect to the wireless LAN communication line (S14). Next, when the access point is detected by the wireless LAN communication line search and the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 is connected to the access point (S15), the history information holding unit 41 uses the position information recorded in step S13 as the line switching history. Information is recorded (S16).

  When the access point is detected by the wireless LAN communication line search and the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 cannot connect to the access point (S15), the communication control unit 46 connects to the mobile communication line via the mobile line connection unit 52. (S17). Next, the history information holding unit 41 discards the position information recorded in step S13 (S18). That is, the history information holding unit 41 does not record the position information recorded in step S13 as line switching history information.

  Subsequently, the flow of the line switching process according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the flow of autonomous line switching processing in the communication device 40 will be described.

  First, the determination unit 43 detects that the mobile communication line has been switched based on the information output from the position information acquisition unit 42 (S21). For example, the determination unit 43 determines that the mobile communication line has been switched when the identification information regarding the base station 22 is received as the connection base station in the state where the identification information regarding the base station 21 is held as the connection base station. .

  Next, the determination unit 43 compares the position information output from the position information acquisition unit 42 with the line switching history information output from the history information holding unit 41 (S22). Next, the determination unit 43 determines whether or not the identification information compared in all of the comparison processes 1 to 4 matches (S23).

  When the determination unit 43 determines that the identification information compared in all of the comparison processes 1 to 4 matches, the determination unit 43 outputs the switching instruction information to the communication control unit 46. Upon receiving the switching instruction information, the communication control unit 46 switches from the mobile line connection unit 52 to the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 and performs a wireless LAN communication line search (S25). Next, the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 connects to the access point detected in the wireless LAN communication line search (S26).

  In step S23, when the determination unit 43 determines that the identification information compared in some of the comparison processes 1 to 4 does not match, the determination unit 43 does not perform the switching process from the mobile communication line to the wireless LAN communication line (S24). ).

  As described above, the communication device 40 can generate line switching history information when switching from a mobile communication line to a wireless LAN communication line in accordance with switching instruction information input from a user. Further, the communication device 40 determines whether or not to autonomously switch from the mobile communication line to the wireless LAN communication line by comparing the line switching history information with the position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 42. Can do.

  The communication device 40 can determine whether to autonomously switch from the mobile communication line to the wireless LAN communication line by performing a comparison process using the acquired information. The comparison processing executed when the communication device 40 autonomously determines whether or not to switch from the mobile communication line to the wireless LAN communication line is compared with a case where processing with a high processing load such as arithmetic processing is executed. , The processing load can be reduced. Therefore, the communication device 40 can suppress an increase in power consumption.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, a configuration example of the communication device 70 according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The communication device 70 has a configuration in which a GPS (Global Positioning System) signal receiving unit 71 is added to the communication device 40 of FIG. In the following, a configuration different from the communication device 40 of FIG. 2 will be mainly described.

  The GPS signal receiving unit 71 receives a GPS signal transmitted from a GPS satellite. The GPS signal receiving unit 71 outputs the GPS signal to the history information holding unit 41 and the position information acquisition unit 42. Alternatively, the GPS signal receiving unit 71 outputs coordinate information obtained from the GPS signal to the history information holding unit 41 and the position information acquisition unit 42.

  The history information holding unit 41 and the position information acquisition unit 42 use coordinate information obtained from the GPS signal instead of the identification information of the connection base station and the peripheral base station output from the mobile line connection unit 52. That is, the history information holding unit 41 and the position information acquisition unit 42 specify the position of the communication device 70 using the coordinate information obtained from the GPS signal.

  The history information holding unit 41 holds, as line switching history information, coordinate information when the mobile communication line is switched to the wireless LAN communication line in accordance with the switching instruction information input from the user. The history information holding unit 41 may hold information such as a connection frequency band and a connection channel of the wireless LAN communication line in association with the coordinate information in the line switching history information.

  The position information acquisition unit 42 outputs coordinate information to the determination unit 43 every predetermined period. For example, the predetermined period may be several seconds or several minutes. When the coordinate information output from the position information acquisition unit 42 is located in an area within a predetermined distance from the coordinate information of the line switching history information, the determination unit 43 autonomously connects to the wireless LAN line from the mobile line connection unit 52. A switching instruction to switch to the unit 51 may be output to the communication control unit 46.

  Next, the flow of recording processing for line switching history information will be described with reference to FIG. Steps S31 and S32 are the same as steps S11 and S12 in FIG.

  In step S32, when the mobile communication line is switched to the wireless LAN communication line by a user operation, the history information holding unit 41 records the coordinate information that was located when the line was switched. Steps S34 to S38 are the same as steps S14 to S18 in FIG.

  Subsequently, the flow of the line switching process according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the flow of autonomous line switching processing in the communication device 70 will be described.

  First, the determination unit 43 receives the coordinate information output from the position information acquisition unit 42 every 5 minutes (S41). Next, the determination unit 43 determines whether the coordinate information output from the position information acquisition unit 42 is within 500 meters of the coordinates of the line switching history information (S42).

  If the determination unit 43 determines that the coordinate information output from the position information acquisition unit 42 is not within the 500 meter range of the coordinates of the line switching history information, the process of step S41 is repeated.

  When the determination unit 43 determines that the coordinate information output from the position information acquisition unit 42 is within 500 meters of the coordinates of the line switching history information, the coordinate information output from the position information acquisition unit 42 every 60 seconds. Is received (S43). Next, the determination unit 43 determines whether or not the coordinate information output from the position information acquisition unit 42 is within 50 meters of the coordinates of the line switching history information (S44).

  If the determination unit 43 determines that the coordinate information output from the position information acquisition unit 42 is not within the 50 meter range of the coordinates of the line switching history information, the process of step S43 is repeated.

  If the determination unit 43 determines that the coordinate information output from the position information acquisition unit 42 is within 50 meters of the coordinates of the line switching history information, the determination unit 43 outputs the switching instruction information to the communication control unit 46. Upon receiving the switching instruction information, the communication control unit 46 switches from the mobile line connection unit 52 to the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 and performs a wireless LAN communication line search (S45). Next, the wireless LAN line connection unit 51 connects to the access point detected in the wireless LAN communication line search (S46).

  The coordinate information reception interval in step S41 is not limited to 5 minutes, and the coordinate information reception interval in step S43 is not limited to 60 seconds. It is assumed that the coordinate information reception interval in step S43 is shorter than the coordinate information reception interval in step S41. Further, the communication area in step S42 is not limited to a range of 500 meters, and the communication area in step S44 is not limited to a range of 50 meters. It is assumed that the communication area in step S44 is smaller than the communication area in step S42.

  As described above, whether or not to autonomously switch from the mobile communication line to the wireless LAN communication line by using the coordinate information obtained from the GPS signal by using the communication device 70 according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Can be determined.

  The communication apparatus 70 can estimate the exact position of the own apparatus by using the coordinate information obtained from the GPS signal as the position information.

  Furthermore, the communication device 70 can shorten the interval for receiving the coordinate information when approaching the position indicated by the line switching history information. That is, the communication device 70 can increase the interval for receiving the coordinate information until it approaches the position indicated by the line switching history information. As a result, even when the communication device 70 is away from the position indicated by the line switching history information, the GPS signal receiving unit 71 is more effective than when the coordinate information is received at a short interval as shown in step S43. The time to do can be shortened. In addition, the number of matching processes between the line switching history information and the coordinate information can be suppressed as compared with the case where the coordinate information is always received at a short interval.

  In the above-described embodiments, the present invention has been described as a hardware configuration, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also realize processing in the communication device by causing a CPU (Central Processing Unit) to execute a computer program.

  In the above example, the program can be stored and supplied to a computer using various types of non-transitory computer readable media. Non-transitory computer readable media include various types of tangible storage media. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic recording media (for example, flexible disks, magnetic tapes, hard disk drives), magneto-optical recording media (for example, magneto-optical disks), CD-ROMs (Read Only Memory), CD-Rs, CD-R / W, semiconductor memory (for example, mask ROM, PROM (Programmable ROM), EPROM (Erasable PROM), flash ROM, RAM (Random Access Memory)) are included. The program may also be supplied to the computer by various types of transitory computer readable media. Examples of transitory computer readable media include electrical signals, optical signals, and electromagnetic waves. The temporary computer-readable medium can supply the program to the computer via a wired communication path such as an electric wire and an optical fiber, or a wireless communication path.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  A part or all of the above-described embodiment can be described as in the following supplementary notes, but is not limited thereto.

(Supplementary note 1) When the communication line is switched by a user operation, the identification information of the connected base station connected before the communication line is switched and the identification of the neighboring base stations located around the connected base station A history information holding unit for holding information, a position information acquisition unit for acquiring identification information of a currently connected base station, and identification information of neighboring base stations located around the currently connected base station; The communication line used in the communication with the currently connected base station is changed using the information held in the history information holding unit and the information acquired in the position information acquisition unit. And a determination unit that determines whether to switch to the communication line.
(Supplementary note 2) The communication apparatus according to supplementary note 1, wherein the determination unit determines whether or not to switch a communication line used in communication with the currently connected base station to a wireless LAN communication line. .
(Supplementary Note 3) The history information holding unit includes identification information of a connection base station connected before connecting to the connection base station as identification information of the neighboring base station, and the position information acquisition unit includes The communication apparatus according to appendix 1 or 2, wherein information including identification information of a connected base station connected before the currently connected base station is acquired as peripheral base station identification information.
(Supplementary Note 4) The history information holding unit includes, as identification information of the peripheral base station, identification information of peripheral base stations located around the connected base station connected before connecting to the connected base station, The position information acquisition unit includes, as the identification information of the neighboring base station, information including identification information of neighboring base stations located around the connected base station connected before the currently connected base station. The communication device according to attachment 3, wherein the communication device is acquired.
(Supplementary Note 5) The determination unit includes identification information of the currently connected base station, identification information of neighboring base stations located around the currently connected base station, and the currently connected connection. Among the identification information of the connected base station connected before the base station, and the identification information of the neighboring base stations located around the connected base station connected before the currently connected base station When at least one piece of identification information matches the identification information held in the history information holding unit, the communication line used for communication with the currently connected base station is switched to another communication line. The communication apparatus according to appendix 4.
(Appendix 6) A history information holding unit that holds, as history information, a position specified by GPS as a position at which a communication line is switched by a user operation, and a position for acquiring the position specified by GPS as current position information Based on whether or not the information acquisition unit and the position indicated in the position information are located within a predetermined area determined using the position indicated in the history information, And a determination unit that determines whether or not to switch a communication line used in communication to another communication line.
(Supplementary Note 7) When the determination unit determines that the position indicated by the position information received every first period is located within the first area determined using the position indicated by the history information, The position information is received every second period that is shorter than the first period, and the position indicated by the position information received every second period is the position indicated by the history information. Is determined to be located in a second area that is narrower than the first area, and is used in communication with the currently connected base station. The communication apparatus according to appendix 6, wherein it is determined that the line is switched to another communication line.
(Supplementary note 8) The determination unit according to Supplementary note 6 or 7, wherein the determination unit determines whether or not to switch a communication line used in communication with the currently connected base station to a wireless LAN communication line. Communication device.
(Supplementary note 9) When a communication line is switched by a user operation, identification information of a connected base station connected before the communication line is switched and identification of neighboring base stations located around the connected base station The information is retained, the identification information of the currently connected base station and the identification information of the neighboring base stations located around the currently connected base station are acquired, and the communication line is switched by the user's operation. Using the information held at the time, the identification information of the currently connected base station and the identification information of the neighboring base stations located around the currently connected base station. A communication line switching method for determining whether or not to switch a communication line used in communication with a connected base station to another communication line.
(Supplementary Note 10) The position specified by the GPS is stored as history information as the position where the communication line is switched by the user's operation, the position specified by the GPS is acquired as the current position information, and is indicated in the position information. The communication line used in communication with the currently connected base station is determined based on whether or not the position is within a predetermined area determined using the position indicated in the history information. Communication line switching method for determining whether to switch to another communication line.
(Additional remark 11) When a communication line is switched by a user's operation, the identification information of the connection base station which was connected before the said communication line was switched, and the identification of the surrounding base station located around the said connection base station The information is retained, the identification information of the currently connected base station and the identification information of the neighboring base stations located around the currently connected base station are acquired, and the communication line is switched by the user's operation. Using the information held at the time, the identification information of the currently connected base station and the identification information of the neighboring base stations located around the currently connected base station. A program that causes a computer to determine whether or not to switch a communication line used in communication with a connected base station to another communication line.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Communication apparatus 11 History information holding part 12 Location information acquisition part 13 Determination part 20 Base station 21 Base station 22 Base station 30 Base station 40 Communication apparatus 41 History information holding part 42 Position information acquisition part 43 Determination part 44 LAN line connection part 45 WAN line connection unit 46 Communication control unit 51 Wireless LAN line connection unit 52 Mobile line connection unit 60 Access point 70 Communication device 71 GPS signal reception unit

Claims (5)

A history information holding unit that holds, as history information, a position specified by GPS as a position at which a communication line is switched by a user operation;
A position information acquisition unit that acquires a position specified by GPS as current position information;
Based on whether or not the position indicated by the position information is located within a predetermined area determined by using the position indicated by the history information, it is used in communication with the currently connected base station. A determination unit that determines whether or not to switch a communication line to another communication line. The determination unit
When it is determined that the position indicated by the position information received every first period is located in the first area determined using the position indicated by the history information, the period is shorter than the first period. The position information is received every second period, and the position indicated by the position information received every second period is an area determined using the position indicated in the history information. If the communication line used in communication with the currently connected base station is switched to another communication line when it is determined that it is located in the second area that is narrower than the first area, The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the determination is made. The determination unit
The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication apparatus determines whether or not to switch a communication line used in communication with the currently connected base station to a wireless LAN communication line. As the position where the communication line is switched by the user's operation, the position specified by the GPS is held as history information,
Obtain the location specified by GPS as the current location information,
Based on whether or not the position indicated by the position information is located within a predetermined area determined by using the position indicated by the history information, it is used in communication with the currently connected base station. Determine whether or not to switch the existing communication line to another communication line,
Communication line switching method. As the position where the communication line is switched by the user's operation, the position specified by the GPS is held as history information,
Obtain the location specified by GPS as the current location information,
Based on whether or not the position indicated by the position information is located within a predetermined area determined by using the position indicated by the history information, it is used in communication with the currently connected base station. Determine whether or not to switch the existing communication line to another communication line,
A program that causes a computer to execute processing.

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