JP5287067B2 - Mobile phone device, femtocell search method and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for searching for a femtocell of a mobile phone device.

  A normal base station covers a range of several kilometers in radius and is generally called a macro cell.

  The current mobile phone service uses a frequency band of 2 GHz, so the radio wave is highly straight, and it is difficult to send enough radio waves indoors using only the macro cell base station. Even in the back of the building and underground, there were places where it was difficult to communicate due to the weak radio wave intensity.

  In order to solve these problems, the installation of a small mobile phone base station called “femtocell” that is effective only in the range of a radius of several tens of meters has been studied.

  There are two possible methods for installing the femtocell. One is a method mainly installed by a mobile phone operator like the conventional cell, and the other is a method mainly installed by a user.

  In the former, since the mobile phone operator prepares a base station and a dedicated line, the user can use the femtocell as well as the macrocell.

  On the other hand, the latter method, which is mainly user-oriented, can be installed at a place the user likes by connecting to the backbone of the mobile phone operator using a broadband line.

As a related technique, a technique for providing a wireless communication terminal that enables a terminal user to actively utilize base station position information and improves the convenience of the terminal user has been proposed. The configuration is a radio communication terminal that actively utilizes base station-specific base station position information notified from the base station on the terminal user side, and the terminal user previously stores the base station-specific base station position information. By registering and comparing with the base station position information acquired from the base station, a procedure for performing a terminal operation determined in advance based on the comparison result is executed (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2000-358269 A

  However, in the latter method, which is the above-mentioned user-oriented, the mobile phone carrier side cannot grasp where the femtocell is installed, and the femtocell information is transmitted to the broadcast information (System Information) transmitted by the macrocell. Cannot enter.

  Therefore, even if it moves from the macro cell to the place where the femto cell exists, it is imagined that the user will not be able to register the location to the femto cell unless some operation is performed and the femto cell is detected. The

  This is because the mobile phone device performs cell movement based on information on neighboring cells included in the notification information, and cannot move to a cell without that information. .

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. When a mobile phone device is stored in the vicinity of the stored location, the location where the femtocell is installed is stored. Cellular phone device, femtocell search method and program for automatically performing femtocell search and smooth cell transition to femtocell even if the location information of macrocell broadcast information does not include femtocell information The purpose is to provide.

The first mobile phone device of the present invention stores the installation position of the femtocell confirmed using the GPS function in the device itself by the user operation , and stores the current location and the location of the device confirmed using the GPS function. The femtocell search is executed based on the comparison result with the installed location of the femtocell, and when a femtocell is detected, the location is registered in the femtocell.

  In addition, the second mobile phone device of the present invention stores the location where the femtocell is installed by the user operation in the device itself, and also stores the information of the macrocell at that location, and the device is stored in the macrocell. A femto cell search is executed only when the location is registered and the reception level of the macro cell falls below a predetermined value. When a femto cell is detected, the location is registered in the femto cell. To do.

Further, the first femtocell search method of the present invention stores the femtocell installation location confirmed using the GPS function in the own device itself by the user operation, and the own femtocell search method confirmed using the GPS function. A femto cell search is executed based on a comparison result between the current location and the stored location of the femto cell. When a femto cell is detected, the location is registered in the femto cell.

  Further, the second femtocell search method of the present invention stores the location where the femtocell is installed by a user operation in the device itself, and also stores information on the macrocell at that location, and the device itself stores the macrocell. The femto cell search is executed only when the macro cell reception level falls below a specified value, and if a femto cell is detected, the location registration is performed on the femto cell. And

In addition, the first program of the present invention stores in the mobile phone device the femtocell installation location confirmed using the GPS function in the device itself by the user operation , and the self-confirmed using the GPS function. If you perform searches of the femtocell based on a comparison between the current position and the location of the stored femtocell result of the device was detected femtocell, and characterized in that to execute a process of location registration to the femtocell To do.

  In addition, the second program of the present invention stores the location where the femtocell is installed by the user's operation in the mobile device itself, and also stores the information of the macrocell at that location. A process of performing a femto cell search only when the location of the macro cell is registered and when the reception level of the macro cell falls below a predetermined value, and when a femto cell is detected, a process of registering the location of the femto cell Is executed.

  According to the present invention, the location where the femtocell is installed is stored in the mobile phone device, and when the mobile phone device moves to the vicinity of the stored location, the notification information of the femtocell is included in the notification information of the macrocell currently registered. Even if there is no information, femtocell search is automatically performed, and cell transition to the femtocell can be realized smoothly.

  Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The basic configuration of the mobile phone device 10 according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is the same as that of a known mobile phone device.

  Next, the femtocell search method of the mobile phone device in this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step 101, the location where the femtocell is installed is stored. This is because the location of the femtocell is selected by using the GPS function 11 of the mobile phone device 10 by selecting “Femtocell installation location registration” or the like on the mobile phone device at the location where the user installed the femtocell. It is stored in the memory 12 of the mobile phone device as an installation location. The registration function 13 may be realized by the control of the CPU 14 of the mobile phone device.

  Next, in step 102, the current location of the mobile phone device is periodically confirmed using the GPS function. As a result, the installation location of the femtocell stored in step 101 is compared with the current location confirmed by the GPS function. If the current location is within the effective range of the femtocell of several tens of meters at the installation location of the femtocell, that is, step 103. If Yes, the femtocell search is performed at step 104. As a result of confirming the current location using the GPS function, if the location of the femtocell stored in step 101 is more than several tens of emails, the femtocell search is performed until the next periodic current location confirmation in step 102. Not implemented.

  As a result of the femtocell search performed in step 104, if a femtocell is detected, that is, if step 105 is Yes, the location is registered in the femtocell detected in step 106. The registration function 13 may be realized by the control of the CPU 14 of the mobile phone device.

  On the other hand, if the femtocell cannot be detected, the current location is confirmed again using the GPS function in step 102.

  According to the above-described embodiment, the location where the femtocell is installed is stored in the mobile phone device, and when the mobile phone device moves near the location where the stored femtocell is installed, the mobile phone device automatically When a femto cell search is performed and a femto cell is detected, the location is registered in that femto cell, which solves the problem that the femto cell is not registered even though it is installed. To do.

  Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the first embodiment, the current location is periodically confirmed by GPS to check whether there is a femtocell near the current location. However, if the GPS operation interval is increased, the transition to the femtocell is performed. However, if the interval for operating GPS is shortened, it is expected that a problem will occur that the battery life will deteriorate.

  Therefore, when storing the location of the femtocell, information on the macrocell at that location is also stored, and if the mobile phone device moves to the stored macrocell, the current location is confirmed by GPS, so that the battery life is also deteriorated. In addition, the transition to the femtocell can be performed quickly.

  Next, processing operations in the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step 201, the location where the femtocell is installed and the macrocell existing at that location are stored. This is the location where the user installed the femtocell, and by selecting "Femtocell installation location registration" etc. on the mobile phone device, the GPS function of the mobile phone device is used to set the current location as the femtocell installation location. The information is stored in the memory of the mobile phone device, and the cell information of the macro cell whose location is registered at that time is stored in the memory.

  Next, if the cell whose current location is registered is the same as the macro cell stored in step 201, that is, if step 202 is Yes, the GPS function is periodically used in step 203 to determine the current location. Check.

  Then, the installation location of the femtocell stored in step 201 is compared with the current location confirmed by the GPS function. If the current location is within the effective range of the femtocell of several tens of meters at the installation location of the femtocell, that is, step 204 is Yes. In this case, a femto cell search is performed in step 205.

  As a result of confirming the current location using the GPS function, if the location of the femtocell stored in step 201 is more than several tens of emails, the process returns to step 202 and the macrocell stored in the registered location If it remains the same, the femtocell search is performed again at the next periodic current location confirmation in step 203.

  If a femto cell is detected as a result of the femto cell search performed in step 205, that is, if step 206 is Yes, the location is registered in the femto cell detected in step 207.

  On the other hand, if the femto cell cannot be detected, the macro cell whose current location is registered is confirmed in step 202.

  Hereinafter, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the first and second embodiments described above, the current location is confirmed using GPS, but there are mobile phone devices that do not have a GPS function. Therefore, a method for performing location registration in the femtocell without using the GPS function will be described.

  Similar to the second embodiment, when the location of the femtocell is stored, the information of the macrocell at that location is stored, and the mobile phone device is registered in the macrocell, and the macrocell is received. A femto cell search is performed only when the level falls below a specified value.

  When a femto cell is detected, the location registration to the femto cell is performed, so that the transition to the femto cell can be performed without using the GPS function.

  Next, processing operations in the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step 301, the macro cell existing at the place where the femto cell is installed is stored. This is the location where the user installed the femtocell, and by selecting "Femtocell installation location registration" etc. on the mobile phone device, the macrocell existing at the location where the femtocell was installed, that is, the current location is registered. The information of the macro cell is stored in the memory.

  Next, if the currently registered cell is the same cell as the macro cell stored in step 301, that is, if step 302 is Yes, in step 303, the reception level of the macro cell is greater than a specified value. Check if it is below. A predetermined value may be determined with reference to the reception level when the macro cell information is stored in step 301, or may be specified with a value that uniformly deteriorates the reception characteristics.

  If the reception level of the macro cell is below a predetermined value in step 303, a femto cell search is performed in step 304. If a femto cell is detected, that is, if step 305 is Yes, step 306 is performed. To register the location in the femtocell.

  If the reception level of the macro cell exceeds a predetermined value in step 303, or if the femto cell cannot be detected in step 305, it is confirmed whether the cell registered in step 302 is the same as the stored macro cell. Return to the phase.

  Further, in each of the previous embodiments, the location where the femtocell exists is stored in the memory of the mobile phone device by a user operation. However, the femtocell is different from other macrocells, and the femtocell-specific PLMN or If a frequency is used, when a specific PLMN or frequency is detected, the fact that a femtocell exists at that location may be automatically stored in the memory of the mobile phone device.

  Each of the above-described embodiments is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, processing for realizing the function of the device may be performed by causing the device to read and execute a program for realizing the function of the mobile phone device. Further, the program is transmitted to another computer system by a transmission wave via a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM or a magneto-optical disk, or via a transmission medium such as the Internet or a telephone line. Also good. In addition, it is also within the scope of the present invention that the functions of the device are realized by other devices collectively or the functions are distributed by an additional device.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the mobile telephone apparatus which concerns on 1st embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing operation which concerns on 1st embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing operation which concerns on 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing operation which concerns on 3rd embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10 cellular phone device 11 GPS function 12 memory 13 registration function 14 CPU

Claims (12)

The installation position of the femto cells that are confirmed using a GPS function, stored in the own device itself by the user operation, the location of the current position and the stored the femtocell of the own apparatus is confirmed by using the GPS function based on the comparison result between perform searches femto cell, when detecting the femtocell, the cellular telephone device, characterized in that the location registration to the femtocell. When storing the location of the femtocell, information on the macrocell covering the location is also stored by the base station of the mobile phone, and the current location is confirmed by GPS only when the device moves to the stored macrocell. The mobile phone device according to claim 1.   The location where the femtocell is installed by the user's operation is stored in the device itself, information on the macrocell at that location is also stored, and the location of the device is registered in the macrocell, and the macrocell is received. A mobile phone device characterized in that a femtocell search is executed only when a level falls below a predetermined value, and when a femtocell is detected, a location is registered in the femtocell.   Instead of the user operation, when a femto cell uses a different PLMN or frequency that is different from that of another macro cell, when the specific PLMN or frequency is detected, the femto cell automatically exists at that location. 4. The mobile phone device according to claim 1, wherein the information is stored in a memory of the device itself. The location of the femto cells that are confirmed using a GPS function, stored in the own device itself by the user operation, the location of the current position and the stored the femtocell of the own apparatus is confirmed by using the GPS function perform searches of the femto cell based on the comparison result between, when detecting the femtocell, the femtocell search method characterized by the location registration to the femtocell. When storing the location of the femtocell, information on the macrocell covering the location is also stored by the base station of the mobile phone, and the current location is confirmed by GPS only when the device moves to the stored macrocell. The femtocell search method according to claim 5.   The location where the femtocell is installed by the user's operation is stored in the device itself, information on the macrocell at that location is also stored, and the location of the device is registered in the macrocell, and the macrocell is received. A femtocell search method, wherein a femtocell search is executed only when a level falls below a predetermined value, and when a femtocell is detected, a location is registered in the femtocell.   Instead of the user operation, when a femto cell uses a different PLMN or frequency that is different from that of another macro cell, when the specific PLMN or frequency is detected, the femto cell automatically exists at that location. The femtocell search method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that said information is stored in a memory of its own device. The installation location of the femtocell confirmed using the GPS function is stored in the mobile device itself by the user operation , and the current location of the self device confirmed using the GPS function is stored in the mobile phone device . the femto cell based on the comparison result between site perform searches of the femto cell, when detecting the femtocell, a program for causing the implementation of the process for location registration to the femtocell. When the location of the femtocell is stored, information on the macrocell covering the location is also stored by the mobile phone base station, and only when the device moves to the stored macrocell, the current location is confirmed by GPS. The program according to claim 9, wherein:   In the mobile phone device, the location where the femtocell is installed by user operation is stored in the device itself, information on the macrocell at that location is also stored at that time, and the device is registered in the macrocell. A program that performs a femto cell search only when the reception level of the macro cell falls below a predetermined value and detects a femto cell, and executes a process of registering a location in the femto cell.   Instead of the user operation, when a femto cell uses a different PLMN or frequency that is different from that of another macro cell, when the specific PLMN or frequency is detected, the femto cell automatically exists at that location. The program according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein a program for storing in a memory of the device is executed.

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