JP3431463B2 - Mobile communication system, service providing method, and mobile station - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile communication system such as a mobile phone, a simple mobile phone, a car phone, a service providing method and a mobile station.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, mobile phones have become widespread. Also, the services provided by mobile phones are not limited to simple phone calls, but include various functions such as a memory dial function for registering a phone number in the internal memory of the phone and a message memo function for recording the message of the caller during a call. Additional services (hereinafter collectively referred to as additional services) are provided. These additional services of the mobile phone are provided by executing application software (hereinafter abbreviated as AS) including various data such as a control program and screen information recorded in the ROM inside the phone. .

[0003]

By the way, in the conventional mobile phones, if the mobile phones are of the same model, ASs corresponding to all the additional services provided by the models are uniformly stored in the ROMs in the respective phones. It is recorded and distributed to users so that the service can be provided. However, the users of mobile phones do not necessarily use all the additional services, and in reality, the services that they use differ depending on the person. In other words, the user of the mobile phone purchases the mobile phone including all the software usage fees in the price although he / she does not use all the additional services. This did not mean that mobile phones were offered to all users at a reasonable price. When using the memory dial function described above, the user registers a desired telephone number according to the guidance displayed on the liquid crystal panel of the mobile phone, but the registration operation is time-consuming and burdensome. . In particular, employees of the same company often register phone numbers for common customers,
In that case, since each person duplicates the registration operation, there is a problem that duplicate labor occurs.

The present invention has been made under such a background, and mobile communication capable of providing additional services to users of individual mobile stations such as mobile phones at a reasonable price. It is intended to provide a system, a service providing method, and a mobile station . In addition, the present invention,
The purpose is to reduce the labor of the user to register the telephone number in the mobile station.

[0005]

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems ] The above-mentioned problems are solved.
For this invention, a mobile station for providing additional services to the user based on the application software, and a base station managing the mobile station performs a wireless switching the mobile station, to the base station In a mobile communication system comprising a connected service network including a terrestrial digital mobile communication network, the service network stores application software stored in the mobile station in response to a request from the mobile station. A management device for transmitting an enable signal for instructing enablement of the mobile station, the mobile station storing means for storing application software, transmitting means for transmitting a signal for requesting the enable signal to the management device, A receiving unit that receives an enable signal transmitted from the management device, and the above-mentioned description is based on the received enable signal. Enables the stored application software means, is characterized in providing additional services to the user based on the application software.

[0007]

[0008]

Further, according to the present invention, a mobile station is provided with means for registering telephone number information consisting of a destination and a telephone number in a memory, reading the requested registration information from the memory and presenting it to the user. In a mobile communication system comprising a base station that manages the mobile station by performing wireless exchange with the mobile station, and a service network including a terrestrial digital mobile communication network connected to the base station, the service is provided. The net is
A server that downloads the specified data to the specified mobile station is provided, and the server has a database that stores a plurality of telephone number information, and the destination of the telephone number information to be downloaded and the telephone number of the mobile station of the download destination. There accept requests downloading specified, while the telephone number information of the specified destination retrieved from the database, to download the telephone number information and the retrieved by connecting the line to the mobile station that is the specified, the The mobile station has a receiving means for receiving the telephone number information downloaded from the server, additionally registers the received telephone number information in an empty area of the memory, and in accordance with a user's request, the additionally registered telephone number. The number information is read out from the memory and presented.

[0010]

[0011]

The present invention also provides a mobile station that provides an additional service to a user based on application software stored in a memory, and a base station that performs wireless exchange with the mobile station and manages the mobile station. A service providing method for a mobile communication system comprising a service network including a terrestrial digital mobile communication network connected to the base station, and a management device connected to the service network,
The mobile station transmitting to the management device a signal requesting enablement of application software stored in the memory of the mobile station; the management device transmitting an enable signal to the mobile station; A station receiving an enable signal transmitted from the management device; the mobile station enabling application software stored in the memory based on the received enable signal; and the mobile station being enabled. And providing additional services to the user based on the application software.

Further, the present invention comprises a destination and a telephone number.
Phone number information to be registered is stored in the memory and the requested registration
Means for reading recorded information from the memory and presenting it to the user
With a mobile station equipped with
The base station that manages the station and the ground side connected to this base station
Service networks including digital mobile communication networks of
Data that is connected to the service network and stores multiple phone number information
Mobile communication system comprising a server having a base
System providing a service ,
Destination and download of phone number information to be downloaded
The mobile number of the destination mobile station is specified and download is required.
The step of receiving the desired signal, the server receiving
The telephone number information of the destination specified by the signal
The step of searching from the database and the server
To the mobile station specified by the received signal.
Steps to connect and download the retrieved phone number information
And the mobile station is downloaded from the server.
Receiving the telephone number information, the mobile station
Steps to additionally register the received telephone number information in the memory
And the mobile station displays the additional registered telephone number information.
And a step to be presented to the user is read out from the memory
It is characterized by that.

[0014]

[0015]

Further, the present invention is summarized as a mobile station used in a moving body communication system, a transmitting means for transmitting a signal requesting the enable signal application software to the management device, transmitted from the management device A receiving means for receiving the enabled enable signal, and an enabling means for enabling the application software stored in the memory based on the enable signal received by the receiving means, and a new device based on the enabled application software. It is characterized by providing various additional services.

[0017]

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. A: First Embodiment (1) Configuration of Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a mobile communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In the following, it is assumed that this system provides a mobile phone service. In the figure, 1 is a service network including a digital mobile communication network and a fixed network. This service network 1
A voice call service and a data packet switching service are provided to fixed stations 11, 11, ... such as telephones and personal computers connected to the network and mobile telephones 12, 12, ... under the control of the base station BS. provide.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a server connected to the service network 1, which is an AS (that is, an application program) for providing various services to the respective mobile phones 12, 12, ....
Software) is stored in the database.
The server 16 receives a request from each of the mobile phones 12, 12, ..., Searches for an AS designated at the time of request, and distributes it via a wireless line between the service network 1 and the base station mobile station. To do.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the mobile phone according to the embodiment. In the figure, the mobile phone 12 includes a CPU 121 and an EEPROM (Electrica).
lly Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) 12
2, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 123, a communication control unit 124, a transceiver 125, a voice input / output unit 126, an operation unit 127, a display unit 128, and a bus BUS. The CPU 121 executes basic software (hereinafter abbreviated as OS) that provides an operating system and AS, and thereby controls each unit connected via the bus BUS. The EEPROM 122 has an OS for all the mobile phones 12, 12, ...
And an AS for providing standard functions such as a telephone call are recorded in advance, and the server 1 is also provided in response to a user's request.
AS for providing the additional service downloaded from 6 is recorded. The RAM 123 is a CPU
It is used as a work area 121.

The communication control unit 124 switches the control according to voice communication at the time of a telephone call and data communication by packet exchange, and performs communication control corresponding to each communication protocol. The transceiver 125, under the control of the communication control unit 124,
A carrier wave is modulated with voice data or packet data for transmission and this is transmitted as a radio signal from an antenna, while a radio signal received from the antenna is demodulated to restore voice data or packet data.

The voice input / output unit 126 converts the voice signal taken in from the microphone into digital voice data, converts the received digital voice data into an analog voice signal, and emits the sound from the speaker. Operation unit 127
Detects pressing operations on the numeric keypad and other keys,
A signal according to the operation is output to the CPU 121. CPU
121 is based on a signal supplied from the operation unit 127,
Recognize key operation. The display unit 128 displays various information on the liquid crystal panel according to the display data supplied from the CPU 121.

(2) Operation of the Embodiment Next, the operation of the present system will be described. As described above, the mobile phone 12 at the time of shipment has the EEPR inside it.
Only the AS for providing a standard function such as an OS and a call is recorded in the OM 122, and the other storage area of the EEPROM 12 is secured as an empty area. Then, when the user who purchased the mobile phone 12 wants to receive a predetermined additional service, he / she calls the server 16. As a result, when the line is connected to the server 16, the server 16 interactively receives the user's request by transmitting a guide message as in the well-known telephone service. In accordance with this guidance message, the user provides a special code, which is a command for requesting the download of AS, and a service code for designating a desired additional service, on the operation unit 127.
Key in more. After that, the CP on the mobile phone 12 side
Under the control of the U121 and the CPU (not shown) on the server 16 side, the designated AS is downloaded according to the sequence shown in FIG. The download operation will be described below with reference to FIG.

In the figure, the mobile phone 12 first sends the special code and service code input to the server 16 and issues an AS download request. The server 16 recognizes the download request based on the special code transmitted from the mobile phone 12, and transmits a request confirmation response to the request to the mobile phone 12 that issued the request. Next, the server 16 searches the database for the AS specified based on the service code received with the download request. Then, the server 16 divides the retrieved AS into a plurality of packets,
The request is sequentially transmitted to the mobile phone 12 that issued the request. In this way, the AS is downloaded.

While the download is taking place, the mobile phone 1
2 checks for each packet whether or not it is normally received, and when it is normally received, sends an affirmative response to the server 16. On the other hand, when the packet is not normally received, the mobile phone 12 sends a request for resending the packet to the server 16
Send to. In this case, the server 16 retransmits the requested packet to the mobile phone 12.

Thus, when all the packets have been successfully received, the server 16 finally sends the data end code to the mobile phone 12, notifying that there is no more data to send. The mobile phone 12 receives the data end code and sends an acknowledgment to the server 16. This causes the server 16 to automatically disconnect the line and
The download of S is completed.

Here, the principle of packet switching when performing the above-mentioned AS download will be described with reference to the conceptual diagram shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, AS to be downloaded is split by the server 16 to a plurality of packet PK, and each packet is added the destination address. AS
Is transmitted to the service network 1 in this way,
Even when packets of different destinations (A and B in the figure) are mixed, the packet switch P / S provided in the exchange in the service network 1 performs routing based on the destination address of each bucket, and Mobile phone 12
Will be sent to.

As described above, the AS packet received by the mobile phone 12 is stored in the RAM 123 temporarily set as the receiving buffer, and the original AS is restored by the packet assembly. The AS thus restored is transferred to the EEPROM 122 and recorded in the empty area. After that, the CPU 121 executes the newly downloaded AS so that the user can receive the new additional service provided by the AS.

B: Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The present embodiment relates to a telephone number registration function known as a memory dial function. The hardware configuration of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment described above, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the concept of this embodiment. As shown in the figure, the server 16 has a database of telephone numbers of corporations, individuals, etc., and these data are registered in response to a request from a company or the like. For example, the company A requests the service company owning the server 16 to register the telephone number list of customers and the like related to the company in the database. Then, for example, when a new employee or the like of the company A newly purchases or gives the mobile phone 12, as in the first embodiment described above,
A call is made from the mobile phone 12 to the server 16, a special code for requesting a download service of a telephone number list is input in accordance with a guidance message from the server 16, and a registration code designating a telephone number list of the company A is input. After that, the server 16 follows a sequence similar to the sequence in the first embodiment shown in FIG.
The telephone number list related to the company A registered in the above is downloaded to the mobile phone 12 and recorded in the EEPROM 122 of the mobile phone 12. As a result, the newly dialed-in telephone number list is additionally registered in the memory dial function of the mobile phone 12. As described above, according to the present embodiment, employees of a company that often have a common telephone number list do not need to perform duplicate registration operations for the same telephone numbers, thus reducing duplication of labor. .

C: Third Embodiment Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. This embodiment relates to telephone number guidance known as a well-known service. The hardware configuration of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment described above, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the concept of this embodiment. As shown in the figure, the server 16 has a database in which telephone numbers of corporations and individuals are registered, as in the well-known telephone number guidance service. This server 16
Instead of announcing the requested telephone number, the registration data itself of the telephone number (that is, telephone number information indicating the telephone number and its destination) is downloaded to the requesting mobile phone 12. The download sequence is the same as that in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3, but in the case of this embodiment, since the data amount is small, it is necessary to divide the packet into a plurality of packets for transmission. The registration data downloaded in this way is the same as in the second embodiment.
It is additionally registered as new data in the memory dial function of the mobile phone 12. As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the guided telephone number is automatically registered in the mobile phone 12, the announced telephone number is recorded or stored as in the well-known telephone number guidance service. There is no need to do any additional work such as registering in the mobile phone 12.

D: Fourth Embodiment Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. The present embodiment relates to a modification of the above-mentioned second or third embodiment. The hardware configuration of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment described above, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the concept of this embodiment.
As shown in the figure, the server 16 has a database in which telephone numbers of corporations and individuals are registered, as in the well-known telephone number guidance service. Regarding the telephone numbers of the related customers, etc., the contract code indicating the company A and the customer code for specifying the destination are related. Then, for example, when the employee S of the company A wants to know the telephone number of the company A who is a customer when he / she is out, etc., he first calls the company A and informs him that he / she wants to know the telephone number of the company A. Upon receiving this call, the employee T of the company A makes a call to the server 16 and inputs the contract code of the company A, the customer code of the company A, and the telephone number of the mobile phone 12 of the employee S. The server 16 that has received these information searches the telephone number of the company A using the contract code and the customer code as search keys, then connects the call to the mobile phone 12 of the employee S, and uses the retrieved telephone number information as the above-mentioned number. Similar to the third embodiment, the data is downloaded to the mobile phone 12 of the employee S. If the employee S himself knows the contract code of the company A and the customer code of the company A, the same result as above can be obtained by calling the server 16 and performing the same operation as the employee T. It will be.

E: Modification Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but various modifications are possible. (1) For example, in the first embodiment, it is possible to provide the corresponding additional service by downloading the AS itself, but the present invention is not limited to such a form, and the EE
If the capacity of the PROM 122 can be sufficiently secured,
For example, as in the conventional case, ASs corresponding to all services are recorded in the EEPROM 122 in advance, and in the initial state, they are set in an inexecutable state by setting flags or the like, and a predetermined management device connected to the service network 1 is carried. Phone 1
The execution may be enabled by transmitting an enable signal in response to a request from No. 2 and inverting the flag corresponding to the corresponding AS.

(2) In the first embodiment, a service list including service code information corresponding to each additional service is previously stored in the EEPRO of each mobile phone 12.
The service list data may be recorded in M122, or the service list data may be transmitted from the server 12 to the requested mobile phone 12 and displayed on the display unit 127 of the mobile phone 12. This eliminates the need for the user to store or separately record the service code.

(3) In the embodiment, the mobile communication system for providing the mobile phone service has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to such a form, and can be a simple mobile phone, a car phone or other portable information terminals. It is also applicable to various mobile communication services such as.

(4) In the embodiment, the download target is AS or telephone number information, but the present invention can be widely downloaded as long as the data is the target of the additional service. There is .

(5) Further, in the embodiment, no particular reference was made to how to charge the service, but the charge can be made in the following manner, for example. As a first mode, there is a method of performing a billing process in the server 16 every time the AS is downloaded or the telephone number information is downloaded. For example, when the amount of money differs for each additional service, the server 16 stores the amount of money data in the database in association with the service code,
The amount data may be transferred to another host computer connected to the service network 1 for charge management and reflected in the charge information database. In addition, as a second mode, there is a method of charging an amount of money corresponding to the connection time of the line required for the download. In this case, the call charge can be collected. However, the charge for download may not be the same as the call charge, but the normal call charge may be multiplied by a predetermined rate or a fixed amount may be added.

(6) In the embodiment, the downloaded AS and telephone number information is recorded in the EEPROM 122, and once downloaded, it is continuously downloaded even after the power is turned off and then turned on again. Although the data is made available, the present invention is not limited to such a form, and the downloaded data may be stored in the RAM 123 and the service may be provided as a one-time use.

(7) In the embodiment, the mobile phone 1
2 accesses the service network 1 and downloads necessary data such as AS, but the present invention is not limited to this form, and a function of directly transmitting / receiving data between the mobile phones 12 apart from communication via the network. It is possible to directly exchange AS and telephone number information between the mobile telephones 12 by providing.

[0039]

According to the present invention as described in the foregoing, number <br/>'s mobile station user, the provided enables the application software corresponding to the additional services required of the service The service provider will then be able to provide additional services at a reasonable price . Further , according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the labor required for the user to register the telephone number in the mobile station.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a mobile communication system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the mobile phone according to the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing an AS download operation according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating packet exchange performed in the download.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the concept of the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the concept of a third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the concept of a fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 service network 11 fixed stations 12 Mobile phones (mobile stations) 16 servers 121 CPU (enable means) 122 EEPROM (storage means) 123 RAM (storage means) 124 Communication control unit (transmitting means, receiving means) 125 transceivers (transmitting means, receiving means) 126 voice input / output unit 127 Operation unit 128 display BS base station BUS bus

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ identification code FI H04Q 7/30 (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04B 7/24-7/26 102 H04Q 7 / 00-7/38

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] And 1. A mobile station for providing additional services to the A user based on application software, and a base station managing the mobile station performs wireless exchange with the mobile station,
In a mobile communication system comprising a service network including a terrestrial digital mobile communication network connected to the base station, the service network is stored in the mobile station in response to a request from the mobile station. A management device for transmitting an enable signal for instructing enablement of the application software, the mobile station storing means for storing the application software, and a transmission for transmitting a signal for requesting the enable signal to the management device. Means and receiving means for receiving an enable signal transmitted from the management device, enabling application software stored in the storage means based on the received enable signal, and based on the application software Characterized by providing additional services to users Mobile communication system. 2. A mobile station having means for registering telephone number information comprising a destination and a telephone number in a memory, reading out the requested registration information from the memory and presenting it to the user, and the mobile station. In a mobile communication system comprising a base station that performs wireless exchange and manages the mobile station, and a service network including a terrestrial digital mobile communication network connected to the base station, the service network is designated A server that downloads specified data to the specified mobile station, the server includes a database that stores a plurality of telephone number information, and the destination of the telephone number information to be downloaded and the telephone number of the mobile station of the download destination are receiving a request for the specified download, the telephone number information of the destination which is the designated retrieval from the database, connects the line to the mobile station that is the designated While downloading the retrieved telephone number information, the mobile station further comprises a receiving means for receiving the telephone number information downloaded from the server, and additionally registers the received telephone number information in an empty area of the memory. A mobile communication system, wherein the additionally registered telephone number information is read from the memory and presented in response to a user's request. 3. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a charging means for charging processing for said mobile station according to the transmission of the download by that telephone number information to the server or enable signal by the management device, or 2. The mobile communication system according to 2. 4. An application stored in the memory
A mobile station that provides an additional service to a user based on software, a base station that manages the mobile station by performing wireless exchange with the mobile station, and a terrestrial digital mobile communication network connected to the base station. A service providing method for a mobile communication system, comprising: a service network including the mobile network; and a management device connected to the service network, wherein the mobile station has an application stored in a memory of the mobile station in the management device. Transmitting a signal requesting software enable, the management device transmitting an enable signal to the mobile station, the mobile station receiving an enable signal transmitted from the management device, The mobile station enables the application software stored in the memory based on the received enable signal. And a step of providing an additional service to a user based on the enabled application software by the mobile station. 5. Telephone number information consisting of a destination and a telephone number
The registration information requested is registered in the memory and the requested registration information is stored in the memory.
A mobile station equipped with a means for reading from the device and presenting it to users
And a base for managing the mobile station by performing wireless exchange with this mobile station.
The ground station and the digital transfer on the ground side connected to this base station.
Service networks, including mobile communication networks, and
Equipped with a database that stores multiple telephone number information
Mobile communication system service provided with a server
A method of providing the destination of telephone number information to be downloaded by the server.
And the phone number of the mobile station to download to
And receiving the signal requesting the download
And the destination specified by the signal received by the server.
Steps to retrieve the telephone number information of
And the move specified by the signal received by the server.
Connect the line to the station and download the retrieved telephone number information.
And the phone number that the mobile station downloads from the server.
Receiving a No. information, the mobile station, add the phone number information received in the memory Noboru
And a step in which the mobile station stores the additionally registered telephone number information in the memory.
This and a step to be presented to the user is read out from the
And a service providing method characterized by: 6. The method of claim 4, feature in that it comprises the step of performing a charging process for the mobile station in response to the transmission of the enable signal downloading or by the management device, of by that phone number information to the server or 5. The service providing method described in 5 . 7. A mobile station used in the mobile communication system according to claim 1 , further comprising: transmitting means for transmitting a signal requesting an enable signal of application software to the management device, and the management device. A receiving means for receiving the enable signal to be transmitted, and an enabling means for enabling the application software stored in the memory based on the enable signal received by the receiving means, and based on the enabled application software A mobile station characterized by providing a new additional service.