JPH09312883A - Portable telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable telephone set that informs its own current position so as to be recognized at a glance by the user as required. SOLUTION: A control signal sent from a base station is received by a transmission reception antenna 11 and fed to a control circuit 20 via a transmission reception circuit 12, a base band processing circuit 13. The control circuit 20 extracts an identification ID to identify a base station from the received control signal. The control circuit 20 reads a district name from an identification ID- district name conversion table 241 formed in a memory 24 based on the extracted identification ID. The read district name is fed to an LCD controller 31 and the district name is displayed on the LCD 32 in characters depending on the control of the LCD controller 31. Thus, its own current position is informed to the user.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a mobile phone.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the widespread use of mobile phones, the number of people carrying mobile phones is increasing. There is a demand for knowing the current position of the user by using the communication function of such a mobile phone that is also carried on the go. For example, it is necessary to know the current position of the user in order to know the place name or how long it takes to reach the destination at the place where he / she first started.

Therefore, in order to allow the user to know his / her current position when necessary, the following method using a mobile phone has been considered.

For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-311093, communication is performed between a mobile phone and a nearest base station connecting a wireless line, and the latitude and longitude indicating the position of the base station from the base station are used. According to the acquired position information, the map information around the base station is read out from the map information prepared in advance in the mobile phone and displayed on the LCD (liquid crystal display) of the mobile phone. Shows a method by which the user can know his / her current position from the displayed map information.

Further, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-297107 discloses the following method. That is, first,
The control signal transmitted to the mobile phone from three different base stations in the vicinity is received, and the identification ID of the base station included in this control signal is acquired. Identification IDs of the three base stations
Thus, the information including the identification ID and the position information (latitude, longitude) stored in the mobile phone is read, the corresponding map information is read according to the read position information, and this is displayed on the LCD of the mobile phone.

Further, the electric field strength of the received control signal from the base station is measured, and it is detected from the electric field strength how far the present position of the self is from each of the three base stations. As a result, the current position of the user can be detected based on the positions of the three base stations, and the current position of the user can be shown on the displayed map. This method uses the so-called triangulation method.

[0007]

However, since the display screen of the mobile phone is small, when the map information is displayed as in the former method, the display becomes too small and difficult to see. The current position of may not be recognized.

Further, as described above, it is necessary to store and hold the map information, which complicates the structure of the mobile phone and increases the cost. Further, in the latter method, the electric field strengths of the signals from the three base stations must be constantly measured, and the current position of the self must be obtained by calculation, which imposes a burden on the hardware and software of the mobile phone. The larger the cost, the higher the cost of the mobile phone.

In view of the above, the present invention enables the user to immediately recognize his or her current position when the user needs it, without imposing a heavy burden on the hardware and software of the mobile phone. The purpose is to provide a mobile phone for notification.

[0010]

[Means for Solving the Problem] The current position of the user that the user wants to know is rarely needed at a detailed level, and the current position of the user, such as what place the place name is, Often it is sufficient to know the region to which it belongs. In view of this point, in order to solve the above problems, the mobile phone according to the present invention has an identification information acquisition unit that acquires identification information of each base station transmitted from each of the base stations, and the identification information of the base station. And information indicating an area determined according to an area in which a signal transmitted from each base station can be received, area information storage means stored in association with each other, and the information acquired by the identification information acquisition means According to the identification information of the base station, the reading means for reading the information indicating the corresponding area from the area information storage means, and displaying the current position of the self based on the information indicating the area read by the reading means And a display unit for displaying.

In the portable telephone according to the present invention, the control signal including the identification information for identifying the base station transmitted from the base station is received and the identification information is taken out. The area information storage means stores the identification information of each base station and the information indicating the area corresponding to the area where each base station can wirelessly communicate with the mobile phone. From the area information storage means, information indicating the area is read out in accordance with the above-mentioned identification information and displayed on the display means, for example, in characters. As a result, the information indicating the area where the user is located is notified, and the user recognizes the current position of the user.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a mobile phone according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. [First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a digital portable telephone.

As shown in FIG. 1, the digital portable telephone according to this embodiment has a transmitting / receiving antenna 11 and a transmitting / receiving circuit 1.
2, baseband processing circuit 13, receiver 14, transmitter 1
5, electric field strength detection circuit 16, LCD controller 31,
The LCD 32 and the control circuit 20 described later in detail are included.

Although not shown, the baseband processing circuit 13 has an A / D conversion converter for A / D converting an audio signal to be transmitted and a D / A conversion converter for D / A converting a received digital audio signal. . Then, in the baseband processing circuit 13, processing for transmission such as A / D conversion is executed on the audio signal from the transmitter 15,
The processed signal is supplied to the transmission / reception circuit 12 to be a high frequency signal, and this signal is transmitted from the antenna 11 to a base station (not shown).

Further, high frequency signals from a plurality of base stations located in the vicinity of the digital portable telephone are received by the antenna 11 and supplied to the electric field strength detection circuit 16 via the transmission / reception circuit 12. The electric field strength detection circuit 16 detects the electric field strength of each of the supplied signals from the plurality of base stations and notifies the control circuit 20 of the detection result. Control circuit 2
0 controls the transmission / reception circuit 12 so as to select the signal from the base station having the highest electric field strength according to the detection result.

The signal selected by the transmission / reception circuit 12 is
The voice signal from the other party is supplied to the baseband processing circuit 13, subjected to D / A conversion, etc., and this voice signal is supplied to the handset 14.

Further, data necessary for connection with a base station and the like are transmitted / received circuit 12 and baseband processing circuit 13.
Through the base station and the control circuit 20.

The control circuit 20 also has a CPU 21, a ROM 22 in which various processing routines are written, a work area RAM 23, and a memory 24. These memories 22 to 24 are CPs via a system bus 29.
It is connected to U21.

In this case, the ROM 22 stores various processing routines executed by this digital mobile phone. Although not shown, the memory 24 is non-volatile by being backed up by, for example, a battery.

In this embodiment, the memory 24 stores, in the memory 24, an identification ID for identifying each base station, and an identification ID between the base station having the identification ID and the mobile phone. A base station ID-area name conversion table 241 which is a correspondence table with area name information indicating an area where wireless communication is possible is formed. FIG. 2 shows an example of the base station ID-area name conversion table 241, which will be described in detail later, but is used when notifying the user of the current position of the own device.

Further, the system bus 29 has I / O ports 41, 42, 43 and a key interface 44.
Is connected. Then, the detection result of the electric field intensity from the electric field intensity detection circuit 16 is supplied to the control circuit 20 through the port 41. Further, the transmission / reception circuit 12 is controlled through the I / O port 42, and data is accessed with the baseband processing circuit 13 through the I / O port 43. Further, the key interface 44 has various operation keys K1 such as a call key and a dial key.
~ KN are connected.

A display controller 31 is connected to the bus 29 and the controller 3
An LCD (liquid crystal display) 32, for example, is connected to 1 as a display element for displaying an operation state and the like.

As described above, the digital portable telephone of this embodiment has the strongest electric field strength at the time of reception among the signals transmitted from a plurality of base stations installed for each predetermined area range. Is selected and information is transmitted / received to / from the base station transmitting the signal. Therefore, when this digital mobile phone moves with the user and the electric field strength of the signal from another base station becomes strong, the signal with the stronger electric field strength is selected and the base station that transmits and receives information is changed. By doing so, it is possible to always maintain a good communication state.

Further, the digital mobile phone of this embodiment receives the control signal from the base station in the standby state and acquires the identification ID of the base station included in the received control signal. Then, using this identification ID and the identification ID-area name conversion table (hereinafter, abbreviated as area name conversion table) 241, which is formed in the memory 24, the current position of the user is notified to the user. It has a location notification function.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart for explaining the notification processing of the current position of the own device which is performed by the digital portable telephone of this embodiment by the above-mentioned current position notification function. In this embodiment, the processing shown in FIG. 3 receives the control signal from the base station and supplies the demodulated control signal to the control circuit 20 when the digital mobile phone is in the standby state. Control circuit 2 for each
Executed at zero.

That is, when the digital mobile phone is in a standby state, the control signal from the base station selected and demodulated in the transmission / reception circuit 12 is controlled via the baseband processing circuit 13 and the I / O port 43. Circuit 20
Is supplied to. The control circuit 20 extracts from the supplied control signal the identification ID of the base station that transmitted this control signal (step 101).

Then, the control circuit 20 judges whether or not the identification ID taken out this time is the same as the identification ID taken out last time (step 102). The determination process of step 102 is a process of determining whether or not this digital mobile phone has moved with the user and the base station with which communication has been performed has changed.

If it is determined in step 102 that the identification ID extracted this time is the same as the identification ID extracted last time, this routine is terminated.
The identification ID extracted this time and the identification I extracted last time
When it is determined that D is different, the control circuit 20
Is the area name conversion table 241 formed in the memory 24 shown in FIG. 2 based on the identification ID extracted this time.
Then, the corresponding area name is read (step 103).
In this embodiment, the read area name corresponds to a wireless communicable area in which wireless communication can be performed with the base station via the mobile phone.

Then, the control circuit 20 controls the LCD controller 31 to display the read area name on the LCD 32 (step 104). FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of the LCD 32 of the digital mobile phone displaying the area name. As shown in FIG. 4, in the case of this digital mobile phone, characters such as "Minatoku Takanawa" indicating the area name are displayed below the time display along with the display of the date, day of the week, time, etc. It This allows the user to see at a glance that his or her current position is "Minato Ward Takanawa" on the display of the mobile phone.

After displaying the area name, the control circuit 20
The identification ID taken out this time is made to be the identification ID taken out last time (step 105), and this routine is ended. Then, as described above, the processing shown in FIG. 3 is repeatedly executed every time the control signal is received from the base station and the demodulation processing is performed, and the user confirms the LCD of the digital mobile phone when necessary. You can know your current position by doing.

As described above, in the digital portable telephone of this embodiment, the region name indicating the current position of the user is displayed on the LCD 32 together with the date, the day of the week, the time, etc., so that the approximate current position of the user can be known. You can learn the place name of the place where you are now even if you come to the land for the first time.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment of the portable telephone according to the present invention will be described. The mobile phone according to the second embodiment is formed similarly to the digital mobile phone described above with reference to FIG. And
The digital mobile phone according to the second embodiment receives a region name indicating its own current position, a plurality of control signals from a plurality of base stations in the vicinity, and uses the control signals,
Notify with a narrower range.

Each base station communicates with a mobile phone by
An area where stable wireless communication is possible (hereinafter referred to as a wireless communicable area) is formed. That is, the strength of the signal transmitted from the base station or mobile phone terminal is predetermined. Therefore, the area within which the signal having the electric field strength equal to or higher than a predetermined level that can stably receive the transmitted signal reaches is the wireless communicable area.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, inside the circles 1R to 5R surrounding the base stations 1 to 5 indicated by dots, the digital portable telephone of this embodiment has the identification ID of each base station. You can definitely get it. However, even if it is outside the area indicated by the circles 1R to 5R, this digital mobile phone has a problem in that it is stable, but it receives a signal transmitted from a base station in its vicinity and identifies the base station. It is possible to obtain the ID.

As shown in FIG. 5, the wireless communicable areas 1R to 5R of the respective base stations are provided with areas overlapping with the wireless communicable areas of the adjacent base stations. This allows
Even if a user who has a mobile phone moves and goes out of the wireless communication area of one base station, it goes inside the wireless communication area of another adjacent base station, so the wireless line is By changing the base station to be connected, the mobile phone can always communicate with any one of the base stations without interruption.

In this overlapping area, the identification ID of the base station forming the overlapping area can be reliably obtained.

Therefore, the signals transmitted from the plurality of base stations are received, the electric field strengths of the plurality of received signals are detected, and when the magnitudes thereof are all above a predetermined level, the signals from the respective base stations are received. By obtaining and discriminating the identification ID from the signal, it is possible to discriminate which one of a plurality of regions where this digital mobile phone overlaps the wireless communicable region of the adjacent base station.

For example, it is assumed that the identification IDs of the base stations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, respectively. Among these, when the electric field strength of the control signal including the identification ID “01” and the identification ID “02” in the received control signal from the base station is equal to or higher than a predetermined level within the wireless communicable area, these The mobile phone of this embodiment that has received the control signal determines that it is located in the area b where the wireless communicable areas of the base station 1 and the base station 2 overlap in FIG.

Further, when only the signal from the base station including the identification ID "01" is detected as having the electric field strength of a predetermined level or higher, the digital portable telephone is located near the center of the area a in FIG. Is determined to be located.

In this way, the control signals from a plurality of base stations are received, the respective electric field strengths thereof are detected, the identification ID is taken out, and these are used to determine the current position of the digital portable telephone.

Then, in the case of the second embodiment,
FIG. 6 shows an example of the area name conversion table 241 formed in the memory 24.

In the area name conversion table 241 shown in FIG. 6, the first identification ID is the electric field at the time of reception among the control signals from the plurality of base stations received in the digital portable telephone according to the second embodiment. Strength is above a certain level,
And the identification ID of the base station that is transmitting the strongest control signal
The second identification ID is the identification ID of the base station which also sends out the signal whose electric field strength is equal to or higher than a predetermined level and whose electric field strength is second highest. And these first
The area name indicating the overlapping area of the wireless communicable area of the base station determined by the second identification ID is registered in association with the first and second identification IDs.

In the second embodiment,
For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a region which is a wireless communicable area of a predetermined base station and which does not overlap with a wireless communicable area of another base station is, as shown in FIG. , The identification ID of the base station is used, and the second identification ID is used.
Is "00", and these first and second identification IDs are
Specified by. In the second embodiment, when the second identification ID is "00", the first identification ID
The area name near the base station indicated by is used.

As shown in FIG. 6, the area name "Minatoku Takanawa" is set as the area name indicating the area a shown in FIG. 5, and the wireless communication area of the neighboring base stations such as the area b is set. As the area name corresponding to the area overlapping with, the current position of the digital mobile phone may be the area name according to the further narrowed area, for example, "Takanawa Minami", "Takanawa 1 Chow", etc. it can.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the first identification ID is "01" and the second identification ID is "0".
2 "and the first identification ID is" 02 "and the second identification I
When D is "01", the current position is the area b shown in FIG.
The area name is set so that "Takanawa Minami", which is the area name within the area and corresponding to this position, is read out.

Further, by considering the electric field strength as described above, it is possible to set a further narrowed down area name. For example, as described above, the control signal from the two base stations is received in the digital portable telephone of the second embodiment, and the identification ID “01” of the base station 1 and the identification ID “02” of the base station 2 are received. If I was retrieved and the identification I
In the case where the electric field strength of the control signal containing D “01” is stronger and the electric field strength of the control signal containing identification ID “02” is stronger, both are within the area b shown in FIG. The current position of the self is located at.

However, when the electric field strength of the control signal including the identification ID "01" is stronger, the first identification ID is "0".
1 "and the second identification ID are" 02 ". Conversely, when the electric field strength of the control signal including the identification ID" 02 "is stronger, the first identification ID is" 02 "and the second identification ID is" 02 ". The ID is “01.” Therefore, even in the area b, it is possible to distinguish between an area where the electric field strength of the signal from the base station 1 is strong and an area where the electric field strength of the signal from the base station 2 is strong. it can.

As described above, the control signals from a plurality of base stations are received, the electric field strength of the received control signals and the identification ID included in the control signals are used, and the area name conversion table 241 is shown in FIG. As shown, the area where the current position of the self is narrower than that of the digital mobile phone according to the first embodiment is considered by considering the area overlapping with the wireless communication area of the neighboring base station. Can be notified as being located in. Particularly, in the vicinity of the boundary of the wireless communicable area of each base station where the base station connecting the wireless line is changed, it is possible to notify that the current position of the self is within the narrowed area.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining the notification processing of the current position in the digital portable telephone according to the second embodiment. In the process shown in FIG. 7, the control signals received from the plurality of base stations are supplied to the control circuit 20 in the standby state, as in the case of the digital mobile phone according to the first embodiment. It is executed in the control circuit 20 every time.

When the control circuit 20 is supplied with the control signals from the plurality of received and demodulated base stations, the control circuit 20 obtains the identification IDs contained in these control signals, and at the same time, determines the electric field strength of each control signal. It is acquired from the detection circuit 16 (step 201).

Next, the control circuit 20 detects the identification ID acquired from the control signal having the maximum electric field strength according to the acquired electric field strength (step 202). Then, the control circuit 20 determines whether or not the identification ID acquired from the control signal having the maximum electric field strength detected this time is different from the identification ID acquired from the control signal having the maximum electric field strength detected last time ( Step 203). The determination process of step 203 is a process of determining whether or not the base station connecting the wireless communication line has been changed.

In the determination processing of step 203, the identification ID from the control signal having the maximum electric field strength detected this time is
When it is judged that it is not the same as the previously detected identification ID,
The control circuit 20 detects the identification ID acquired from the control signal having the second highest electric field strength (step 204).
In the process of step 204, for example, among the control signals from the base station that are received and demodulated, one signal having an electric field strength equal to or higher than a predetermined level with which the identification ID can be reliably acquired is 1
If there is only one, "00" is set to the identification ID acquired in this process.

The control circuit 20 then proceeds to step 202.
The area ID conversion table 241 formed in the memory 24 is formed by using the identification ID detected in step S204 as the first identification ID and the identification ID detected in step S204 as the second identification ID.
To read the relevant area name (step 20).
5) The LCD controller 31 is controlled to display the read area name on the LCD 32 (step 206). Then, this routine ends.

When it is determined in the determination processing of step 203 that the identification ID from the control signal having the maximum electric field intensity detected this time is the same as the identification ID detected the previous time, the control having the second highest electric field intensity is performed. The identification ID acquired from the signal is detected (step 207), and this identification I
It is determined whether D is different from the identification ID obtained from the control signal having the second largest electric field strength detected last time (step 208).

In the determination processing of step 208, the identification ID acquired from the control signal having the second highest electric field strength detected this time is different from the identification ID acquired from the control signal having the second highest electric field strength detected last time. When it is determined that the identification ID detected in step 202 is the first identification ID and the identification ID detected in step 207 is the second identification ID, the processing from step 205 is performed. In addition, in the determination processing of step 208,
If it is determined that the identification ID acquired from the control signal having the second highest electric field strength detected this time and the identification ID acquired from the control signal having the second highest electric field strength detected previously match, It is determined that the current position remains within the area notified last time, and this routine is ended.

Further, in this example, the case where the wireless communicable areas of two base stations overlap each other has been described, but the present invention is also applicable when the wireless communicable areas of two or more base stations overlap. Can be applied. That is, in such a case, the area name conversion table 241 shown in FIG. 6 is subdivided using a plurality of identification IDs. Then, the signals from the plurality of base stations may be received, the identification IDs may be extracted from the respective base stations, and the electric field strength of the control signal that provides them may be detected.

Further, the identification IDs of the acquired base stations
And the current position of this digital mobile phone can be notified according to the difference in the electric field strength of the control signal that provides the identification IDs.

For example, in the area RS shown in FIG. 8, the control signal from the base stations 1, 2, 3, 8 is received and the identification I
It is assumed that D can be acquired. In this case, the electric field strength of the control signal from each of the base stations 1, 2, 3 and 8 includes the region R
A difference occurs depending on the distance between S and each base station 1, 2, 3, 8. On the other hand, in the above-mentioned area name conversion table 241, for example, the area name specified according to the magnitude of the electric field strength of the radio wave from each base station indicated by the identification ID obtained in that area, and the electric field strength Register the information in order of size in association with each other.

Therefore, for example, the region RS shown in FIG.
In the case where the digital mobile phone is located at position C inside, the identification IDs of the base stations 1, 2, 3, and 8 can be obtained, and when the magnitude of the electric field strength is detected, the electric field By referring to the area name conversion table 241, in order of strength, the area name of the region RS is acquired from the table 241 and notified to the user.

In the first and second embodiments described above, the display processing of the current position of the self is performed in the standby state, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when a predetermined key is pressed by the user, the processing shown in FIG.
It is also possible to display the current position in response to a request from the user.

Further, when the present invention is applied to a PHS type mobile phone, the base stations are installed at intervals of several hundred meters, so that the current position of the self can be notified in detail.

Further, as described in the first and second embodiments, the current position of the user can be known at a glance because the area name is displayed as character data. it can.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the identification ID-area name conversion table 241 is formed by the identification ID which is the numerical data and the area name which is the character data, but it is composed of the area code and the area name. For example, the area name master table may be separately prepared in the memory 24, and the area code may be set in place of the area name in the identification ID-area name conversion table 241. With this, for areas with the same area name, setting the same area code does not require overlapping area names that increase in capacity,
The memory forming these tables can be used efficiently.

[0064]

As described above, according to the mobile phone of the present invention, it is possible to measure the approximate current position of the user. And my current position is the area name,
Since it is notified as character information such as a place name, the user can know the current position of the user at a glance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining a digital mobile phone of an embodiment of a mobile phone according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of an identification ID / region name conversion table used in a digital mobile phone of another embodiment of a mobile phone according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a notification process of a current position performed in the digital mobile phone shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an example of notification of a current position.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a wireless communicable area of a base station.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of an identification ID / region name conversion table used in a digital mobile phone of another embodiment of a mobile phone according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining current position notification processing performed in a digital mobile phone of another embodiment of a mobile phone according to the present invention.

[Fig. 8] Fig. 8 is a diagram for explaining an example of a case of notifying a current position in accordance with the acquired identification IDs of a plurality of base stations and the electric field strengths of the control signals providing the identification IDs.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Transmission / reception antenna, 12 ... Transmission / reception circuit, 13 ... Baseband processing circuit, 14 ... Receiver, 15 ... Transmitter, 16
... electric field strength detection circuit, 20 ... control circuit, 21 ... CPU,
22 ... ROM, 23 ... RAM, 24 ... Memory, 31 ... L
CD controller, 32 ... LCD, 41-43 ... I / O
Port, 44 ... Key interface, K1 to kN ... Operation keys, 241 ... Identification ID-area name conversion table

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Identification information acquisition means for acquiring identification information of each base station transmitted from each of the base stations, identification information of the base station, and a signal transmitted from each base station. Information indicating the area determined according to the area, the area information storage unit is stored in association with, according to the identification information of the base station acquired by the identification information acquisition unit, from the area information storage unit, A mobile phone comprising: a reading unit that reads information indicating the corresponding region; and a display unit that displays the current position of the user based on the information indicating the region read by the reading unit. 2. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein the information indicating the area displayed on the display means is character information. 3. An electric field intensity detecting means for detecting an electric field intensity of a signal transmitted from the base station is provided, and the area information storing means includes the identification information of the two or more adjacent base stations and the identification information. Information indicating an area determined according to a difference in electric field strength of signals transmitted from two or more adjacent base stations is stored in association with the identification information and the electric field strength, and the reading unit is Corresponding from the area information storage means according to the identification information of the base station acquired by the identification information acquisition means and the electric field strength of the signal transmitted from the base station detected by the electric field strength acquisition means. Reading the information indicating the area, and causing the display unit to display the information indicating the area read by the reading unit as its own current position. Mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein.