JP5702158B2 - COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, FEMTO CELL BASE STATION, AND CONTROL METHOD - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for performing communication using a femtocell base station.

  Conventionally, fixed telephones have been used in places that require a plurality of telephones such as offices. For this reason, for example, if the user has left his / her seat at a meeting or the like, he / she could not answer the call. Further, since the position of the telephone is fixed, it is necessary to perform transfer even at a distance of several meters. Also, when increasing the number of telephones, it takes time to install and register telephones. In addition, a dedicated device such as PBX (Private Branch eXchange) was necessary for making an extension call.

  In recent years, most users have portable terminals. For this reason, in recent years, there is a case where a call request is notified to an individual mobile terminal instead of a fixed telephone.

  In addition, as a technical document filed prior to the present invention, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-354110) can remotely answer a telephone call from one place at a plurality of remote locations. The technology to make is disclosed.

  In the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, incoming information is notified from an incoming call notification terminal to a plurality of response terminals, call pickup is performed from the response terminal to the incoming call notification terminal, and notification is made to all places where there is a possibility of responding. , Enabling telephone support from anywhere.

  Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-33831) discloses a technique for calling a plurality of telephones including a main person's telephone at the same time in different calling modes for each person in charge when an outside line is received.

  In the above Patent Document 2, when an outside line is received by the caller ID notification method, information on the main person in charge, the sub-person in charge and the person in charge outside the person corresponding to the caller number is acquired from the person-in-charge table. The telephone to be called is identified from among the telephones, and the telephones corresponding to the main person in charge, the sub-person in charge, and the outside person in charge are called in different calling modes.

  In Patent Document 3 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-81294), both extension communication and outside line communication can be performed using the same mobile phone, and telephone numbers are used for extension line communication and outside line communication. A technique that eliminates the need for switching between the two is disclosed.

  In the above Patent Document 3, if the mobile phone of the communication partner is not located in any of the femtocells, external line communication is performed via the mobile communication network, and the mobile phone of the communication partner is any of the femtocells. If the mobile phone is located in the network, the extension communication is performed via the IP network.

JP 2000-354110 A JP 2002-33831 A JP 2010-81294 A

  In recent years, in order to improve the quality of a communication area, a communication system using a femtocell base station has been introduced as described in Patent Document 3 above. The femtocell base station is a small wireless base station that covers a narrow communication area with a radius of about several tens of meters, and is intended to be installed in a room in a home or office to cover the indoor communication area. This makes it possible to improve the communication quality in a communication area that cannot be covered by an existing macrocell base station. In addition, it is possible to cover the communication area without incurring costs for the infrastructure development of the macrocell base station. For this reason, it is preferable to simultaneously notify information to a plurality of terminals by using a femtocell base station that has been introduced in recent years.

  Note that Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose a technique for notifying a plurality of terminals of incoming calls. Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for performing both extension communication and outside line communication using the same mobile phone. However, in the above Patent Documents 1 to 3, there is no description or suggestion that information is simultaneously notified to a plurality of terminals existing in the communication area of the femtocell base station.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a communication system and a femtocell base station capable of simultaneously reporting information to a plurality of terminals existing in the communication area of the femtocell base station And it aims at providing a control method.

  In order to achieve this object, the present invention has the following features.

<Communication system>
A communication system according to the present invention includes:
A communication system comprising at least a plurality of terminals and a femtocell base station for constructing a predetermined communication area,
The femtocell base station is
Managing means for managing a group of a plurality of terminals in association with identification information of the femtocell base station;
A control means for notifying only the terminal existing in the communication area among the plurality of terminals associated with the identification information when the identification information for performing the information notification is received;
It is characterized by having.

<Femtocell base station>
The femtocell base station according to the present invention is:
A femtocell base station for constructing a predetermined communication area,
Management means for managing a group of a plurality of terminals in association with identification information of the femtocell base station;
A control means for notifying only the terminal existing in the communication area among the plurality of terminals associated with the identification information when the identification information for performing the information notification is received;
It is characterized by having.

<Control method>
The control method according to the present invention includes:
A method for controlling a femtocell base station that establishes a predetermined communication area,
A management step of managing a group of a plurality of terminals by managing means in association with identification information of the femtocell base station;
When receiving the identification information for performing information notification, a control step of performing information notification only to the terminal existing in the communication area among the plurality of terminals associated with the identification information;
It is characterized by having.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, information notification can be performed simultaneously with respect to the some terminal which exists in the communication area of the base station for femtocells.

It is a figure which shows the system configuration example of the communication system of this embodiment. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a database 10 of a femtocell base station FAP1. FIG. It is a 1st figure which shows the processing operation example of the communication system of this embodiment. It is a 2nd figure which shows the processing operation example of the communication system of this embodiment.

<Outline of Communication System of this Embodiment>
First, an outline of a communication system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  The communication system according to the present embodiment is a communication system including at least a plurality of terminals UE101 to UE104 and femtocell base stations FAP1 to FAP2 that construct a predetermined communication area.

  The femtocell base station FAP1 of the present embodiment includes a management unit (corresponding to the database 10) that manages a group of a plurality of terminals UE101, UE102, UE103 in association with identification information of the femtocell base station FAP1, information notification Control unit 11 that notifies information only to the terminals UE101 and UE102 existing in the communication area among the plurality of terminals UE101, UE102, and UE103 associated with the identification information when receiving the identification information for performing It is characterized by having.

  The communication system according to the present embodiment has the above-described configuration, so that information can be simultaneously notified to a plurality of terminals UE101 and UE102 existing in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1.

  Moreover, the communication system of this embodiment can perform call notification with respect to several terminal UE101, UE102 from identification information, such as the same external line number, when performing call notification as information notification. As a result, even when the user leaves the seat, a call notification can be received by carrying the terminal UE, and mobility can be improved. Hereinafter, the communication system of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<System configuration example of communication system>
First, a system configuration example of a communication system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  The communication system of the present embodiment includes terminals UE101 to UE104, femtocell base stations FAP1 to FAP2, a macrocell base station MACRO, and a core network NW. The number of each device which comprises the communication system of this embodiment is not specifically limited, It is possible to comprise by arbitrary numbers.

  Terminals UE101 to UE104 are existing terminals that perform wireless communication such as mobile phones, and have registered unique external numbers unique to terminals UE101 to UE104. In this embodiment, terminals UE101, UE102, UE103 registered in the database 10 of the femtocell base station FAP1 are registered terminals, and terminals UE104 that are not registered in the database 10 of the femtocell base station FAP1 are unregistered terminals. Will be described. In FIG. 1, UE101, UE102, and UE103 are registered terminals, and UE104 is an unregistered terminal. In FIG. 1, it is assumed that registered terminals UE101 and UE102 and unregistered terminal UE104 exist in the communication area of femtocell base station FAP1, and registered terminal UE103 exists in the communication area of macrocell base station MACRO. To do.

  The femtocell base stations FAP1 and FAP2 are devices for constructing a small cell, and connect the terminal UE existing in the communication area of the femtocell base stations FAP1 and FAP2 to the core network NW. The femtocell base stations FAP1 and FAP2 of this embodiment create a group in a pseudo manner, and register unique group information and external line numbers (femto identification information) for managing the group in the registration terminals UE101 to UE103. . Further, a unique extension number is registered under each of the registration terminals UE101 to UE103 under the femtocell base station FAP1. The femtocell base stations FAP1 and FAP2 register and manage group information, external line numbers, terminal identification information, and extension numbers in the database 10. A data configuration example of the database 10 is shown in FIG.

  The database 10 shown in FIG. 2 manages group information, external line numbers, terminal identification information, extension numbers, and attribution information in association with each other. The group information is information for managing a group of registered terminals UE. The external line number is information for identifying the femtocell base station FAP, and is used when notifying all the call requests to the registered terminals UE under the femtocell base station FAP included in the group information. Number. The terminal identification information is information for uniquely identifying the registered terminal UE. The extension number is a number used when making an extension call to the registered terminal UE. The attribution information is information for specifying whether or not the registered terminal UE exists in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP. When the registered terminal UE is “Yes”, the registered terminal UE is the femtocell base station FAP. The registered terminal UE does not exist within the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP. The attribution information can also be managed on the core network NW side. In the femtocell base station FAP1 of the present embodiment, the control unit 11 refers to the database 10 and performs various controls.

  The core network NW is a network for establishing communication between devices.

  The macro cell base station MACRO is a device that constructs an existing 3G network, and connects the terminal UE existing in the communication area of the macro cell base station MACRO to the core network NW.

  Note that the configuration of the core network NW of the present embodiment is not particularly limited, and can be constructed using various devices. For example, an existing 3G network that performs communication between a user and a communication carrier via an existing macro cell base station MACRO is constructed. Therefore, it is preferable to construct a core network NW that can connect the femtocell base stations FAP1 and FAP2 to the core network NW without improving the existing 3G network. In constructing the core network NW, for example, an IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) network or the like can be used.

<Processing operation example of communication system>
Next, a processing operation example of the communication system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

<Notice of incoming calls to registered terminals under the femtocell base station>
First, a processing operation example of notification of incoming calls to registered terminals UE101 and UE102 existing under the femtocell base station FAP1 will be described with reference to FIG.

  When the femtocell base station FAP1 is started up or when the setting of the femtocell base station FAP1 is changed (step S1), the femto identification information and the external line number for identifying the femtocell base station FAP1 Is transmitted to the core network NW (step S2). The core network NW stores and manages the femto identification information and the external line number transmitted from the femtocell base station FAP1 in the database of the core network NW (step S3). Accordingly, the core network NW can manage the femtocell base station FAP1 existing under the core network NW. The database of the core network NW may be managed by a communication device that constitutes the core network NW, or a new database may be provided.

  Next, when the registered terminal UE101 moves within the communication area constructed by the femtocell base station FAP1 (step A1), the registered terminal UE101 performs location registration and terminal identification information for identifying the registered terminal UE101 Is transmitted to the femtocell base station FAP1 (step A2). When the location registration process is completed, the femtocell base station FAP1 refers to the database 10 based on the terminal identification information transmitted from the registered terminal UE101, and updates the attribution information corresponding to the terminal identification information to “present” ( Step A3). Thereby, the femtocell base station FAP1 can manage the registration terminal UE101 that currently exists in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1.

  Next, when the caller terminal 100 starts a call to the femtocell base station FAP1, an external line number for starting the call is transmitted to the core network NW (step B1). When the core network NW receives the external line number, the core network NW refers to the database, identifies the femtocell base station FAP1 corresponding to the external line number, and makes a call request (call) to the identified femtocell base station FAP1. Is transmitted (step B2). At this time, the core network NW transmits the external line number to the femtocell base station FAP1.

  The femtocell base station FAP1, when receiving a call request from the core network NW, refers to the database 10 based on the external line number, and is a registered terminal UE registered in the database 10 in association with the external line number, In addition, the registered terminal UE currently existing in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1 is specified. In the case of FIG. 1, the registered terminals UE registered in the database 10 in association with the external line numbers are UE101, UE102, UE103, and the registered terminals UE currently existing in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1 are , UE101 and UE102, the femtocell base station FAP1 identifies the registered terminals UE101 and UE102. Then, a call request is notified to the registered terminals UE101 and UE102 (step B3). As a result, the femtocell base station FAP1 can notify the call request only to the registered terminals UE101 and UE102 currently existing in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1 (femtocell base station FAP1). The call request is not notified to the unregistered terminal UE104 existing in the communication area or the registered terminal UE103 not existing in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1).

  The registration terminal UE101 that first responds to the call request from the femtocell base station FAP1 starts a call with the source terminal 100 via the femtocell base station FAP1 and the core network NW (steps B4 and B5). In this case, the femtocell base station FAP1 performs call connection between the registration terminal UE101 that first responded to the call request and the caller terminal 100, and for the registration terminal UE102 other than the registration terminal UE101 that responded to the call request first. The call request notification is disconnected (step B6). For example, when the registration terminal UE101 first responds to the call request, the call between the registration terminal UE101 and the caller terminal 100 is established, and the call request notification to the registration terminal UE102 is disconnected.

  If there are other (multiple) call requests, the femtocell base station FAP1 queues in the order of the call requests, and even after the response to the first call request is made, Until all of these are lost, the call request is continuously notified to the other registered terminals UE. The number that can be queued in the femtocell base station FAP1 can be arbitrarily set on the femtocell base station FAP1 side.

<Example of extension call processing in femtocell base station>
Next, with reference to FIG. 4, an example of a processing operation for extension calls in the femtocell base station FAP1 will be described.

  The registration terminal UE101 existing in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1 can make an extension call to another registration terminal UE102 existing in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1.

  First, when the registration terminal UE101 starts an extension call to the registration terminal UE102 using the extension number, the extension number of the registration terminal UE102 is transmitted to the femtocell base station FAP1 (step S11). When receiving the extension number, the femtocell base station FAP1 refers to the database 10 based on the extension number, identifies the registered terminal UE102 corresponding to the extension number, and makes a call request to the registered terminal UE102 (Call) is transmitted (step S12). In this case, since the registration terminal UE102 exists within the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1, the registration terminal UE102 can be notified of a call request.

  When the registration terminal UE102 responds to the call request from the femtocell base station FAP1, the registration terminal UE102 starts an extension call with the registration terminal UE101 via the femtocell base station FAP1 (steps S13 and S14). In this case, the femtocell base station FAP1 performs an extension call connection between the registration terminal UE101 and the registration terminal UE102 existing in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1.

  Note that the femtocell base station FAP1 notifies the registration terminal UE101 that an extension call cannot be made when the registration terminal UE102 does not exist in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1 in the processing operation of step S12. .

  Further, since the registration terminal UE103 shown in FIG. 1 does not exist in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1, the registration terminal UE103 cannot notify the femtocell base station FAP1 of the extension number. For this reason, the registration terminal UE103 cannot use the extension number to make an extension call with the other registration terminals 101 and 102 existing in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1, and uses the extension number unique to the registration terminal UE103. Thus, an outside line call is made with the registration terminals 101 and 102. That is, the registered terminal UE103 that does not exist in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP cannot make an extension call, and makes an outside line call and is used as a normal mobile terminal.

<Operation / Effect of Communication System of this Embodiment>
As described above, in the communication system according to the present embodiment, information on a group of a plurality of terminals UE101, UE102, and UE103 is registered in the database 10 in association with the external line number. Then, when receiving the outside line number for making a call notification, the femtocell base station FAP1 refers to the database 10 and exists in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1 associated with the outside line number. Call request notifications are simultaneously performed for the terminals UE101 and UE102. Thereby, it is possible to simultaneously notify the call request to the plurality of terminals UE101 and UE102 existing in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP1.

  In addition, the femtocell base station is capable of improving mobility by simultaneously performing a call request notification to the plurality of terminals UE101 and UE102 existing in the communication area of the FAP1 base station distribution FAP1. Notification of a call request to the registered terminal UE103 existing outside the communication area of FAP1 can be suppressed. For this reason, notification of a call request | requirement can be performed simultaneously not for terminal UE unit but for a position (small office / home etc.) unit. That is, notification of call requests can be performed simultaneously in predetermined closed area units.

  Further, in the communication system of the present embodiment, since the femtocell base station FAP can be used to simultaneously notify the call request to the registered terminals UE existing in the communication area of the femtocell base station FAP. It is possible to make an extension call without installing a dedicated device such as a PBX. In addition, even if a dedicated terminal is not used, an existing terminal such as a mobile phone possessed by each user can be used in this system. As a result, the cost can be reduced and the system can be used even in a small-scale business / home.

  The above-described embodiment is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment alone, and various modifications are made without departing from the gist of the present invention. Implementation is possible.

  For example, the control operation in the femtocell base station FAP and the core network NW configuring the communication system described above can be executed using hardware, software, or a combination of both.

  In the case of executing processing using software, it is possible to install and execute a program in which a processing sequence is recorded in a memory in a computer incorporated in dedicated hardware. Alternatively, the program can be installed and executed on a general-purpose computer capable of executing various processes.

  For example, the program can be recorded in advance on a hard disk or ROM (Read Only Memory) as a recording medium. Alternatively, the program can be stored (recorded) temporarily or permanently in a removable recording medium. Such a removable recording medium can be provided as so-called package software. Removable recording media include floppy (registered trademark) disks, CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), MO (Magneto optical) disks, DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs), Blu-ray disks, magnetic disks, and semiconductor memories. Can be mentioned.

  The program is installed in the computer from the removable recording medium as described above. In addition, it is wirelessly transferred from the download site to the computer. In addition, it is transferred to the computer via a network by wire.

  In addition, the communication system in the present embodiment is not only executed in time series according to the processing operation described in the above embodiment, but also the processing capability of the apparatus that executes the processing, or in parallel or individually as required. It is also possible to build to run on

  Moreover, although a part or all of said embodiment can be described also as the following additional remarks, it is not restricted to the following.

(Appendix 1)
A communication system comprising at least a plurality of terminals and a femtocell base station for constructing a predetermined communication area,
The femtocell base station is
Managing means for managing a group of a plurality of terminals in association with identification information of the femtocell base station;
A control means for notifying only the terminal existing in the communication area among the plurality of terminals associated with the identification information when the identification information for performing the information notification is received;
A communication system comprising:

(Appendix 2)
The information notification is a call notification,
The supplementary note 1, wherein the control unit performs a call connection between the terminal and a source terminal that has transmitted the identification information when a response to the call notification is received from the terminal. Communications system.

(Appendix 3)
The communication system according to claim 2, wherein the control unit disconnects the call notification to another terminal when receiving a response to the call notification from the terminal.

(Appendix 4)
The communication system according to claim 2 or 3, wherein, when a plurality of call notifications are received, the control unit continuously performs the call notification until a response to all the call notifications is received from the terminal.

(Appendix 5)
The communication system according to any one of appendices 1 to 4, wherein the management unit manages group information for identifying a group of a plurality of terminals and the identification information in association with each other.

(Appendix 6)
The management means manages a unique extension number assigned to each of the plurality of terminals in association with each terminal,
When the control unit receives an extension number from the terminal existing in the communication area, the control unit receives the extension number when the terminal associated with the extension number exists in the communication area. The communication system according to any one of appendices 1 to 5, wherein an extension call connection is established between the terminal and the terminal associated with the extension number.

(Appendix 7)
A femtocell base station for constructing a predetermined communication area,
Management means for managing a group of a plurality of terminals in association with identification information of the femtocell base station;
A control means for notifying only the terminal existing in the communication area among the plurality of terminals associated with the identification information when the identification information for performing the information notification is received;
A femtocell base station characterized by comprising:

(Appendix 8)
A method for controlling a femtocell base station that establishes a predetermined communication area,
A management step of managing a group of a plurality of terminals by managing means in association with identification information of the femtocell base station;
When receiving the identification information for performing information notification, a control step of performing information notification only to the terminal existing in the communication area among the plurality of terminals associated with the identification information;
A control method characterized by comprising:

(Appendix 9)
A program to be executed by a computer of a femtocell base station that constructs a predetermined communication area,
A management process for managing a group of a plurality of terminals by managing means in association with identification information of the femtocell base station;
A control process for notifying only the terminal existing in the communication area among the plurality of terminals associated with the identification information when the identification information for performing the information notification is received;
Is executed by the computer.

  Note that the communication system according to the present embodiment can be applied to uses such as an extension to a small business operator / home and a representative number notification service. It can also be applied to applications such as providing services limited to the group established by the FAP cell base station FAP. Examples of the service limited to the group include a transfer service limited to the group. That is, the communication system of the present embodiment is applicable not only to call notification but also to various information notifications.

UE101, UE102, UE103 Registered terminal UE104 Unregistered terminal FAP1, FAP2 Femtocell base station 10 Database 11 Control unit MACRO Macrocell base station NW Core network

Claims (8)

A communication system comprising at least a plurality of terminals and a femtocell base station for constructing a predetermined communication area,
The femtocell base station is
Managing means for managing a group of a plurality of terminals in association with identification information of the femtocell base station;
Attribution management means for grasping whether or not the terminal exists in the communication area of the femtocell base station;
A control means for notifying only the terminal existing in the communication area among the plurality of terminals associated with the identification information when the identification information for performing the information notification is received;
A communication system comprising: The information notification is a call notification,
2. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein, when a response to the call notification is received from the terminal, the control unit performs a call connection between the terminal and a source terminal that has transmitted the identification information. Communication system.   The communication system according to claim 2, wherein the control unit disconnects the call notification to another terminal when receiving a response to the call notification from the terminal.   4. The communication system according to claim 2, wherein, when a plurality of call notifications are received, the control unit continuously performs the call notification until a response to all the call notifications is received from the terminal.   The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the management unit manages group information for specifying a group of a plurality of terminals and the identification information in association with each other. The management means manages a unique extension number assigned to each of the plurality of terminals in association with each terminal,
When the control unit receives an extension number from the terminal existing in the communication area, the control unit receives the extension number when the terminal associated with the extension number exists in the communication area. The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein an extension call connection is established between the terminal and the terminal associated with the extension number. A femtocell base station for constructing a predetermined communication area,
Management means for managing a group of a plurality of terminals in association with identification information of the femtocell base station;
Attribution management means for grasping whether or not the terminal exists in the communication area of the femtocell base station;
A control means for notifying only the terminal existing in the communication area among the plurality of terminals associated with the identification information when the identification information for performing the information notification is received;
A femtocell base station characterized by comprising: A method for controlling a femtocell base station that establishes a predetermined communication area,
A management step of managing a group of a plurality of terminals by managing means in association with identification information of the femtocell base station;
Attribution management step of ascertaining whether the terminal exists in the communication area of the femtocell base station;
When receiving the identification information for performing information notification, a control step of performing information notification only to the terminal existing in the communication area among the plurality of terminals associated with the identification information;
A control method characterized by comprising:

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