JPH10304460A - Portable terminal, information service device, and method for disclosing access point to communication network - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily connect the portable terminal to the internet at a moving destination by sending its own position information to an information service device, connecting to a communication network and receiving nearby access point information based on the position information. SOLUTION: A position information acquisition section of the portable terminal 10 acquires its own current position information. Then a line connection request is made to a server 13 in a provider 23. The server 13 obtains transmitted position information acquired by the portable terminal 10 and the portable terminal 10 corresponds thereto. The server 13, based on the position information, selects a nearby access point 17 in a telephone number list of access points 17 of the provider 23, transmits the selected access point to the portable terminal 10, which stores it to its built-in RAM and displays it. The telephone line is interrupted in this state, but since the nearby access point 17 is stored in the RAM of the portable terminal 10, the user makes automatic dialing to the access point with a simple operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable information terminal device having a wireless communication function, and a plurality of access terminals provided for connecting to a communication network such as the Internet (hereinafter referred to as "Internet"). The present invention relates to a portable information terminal device that presents telephone information of a nearest access point selected from the points based on the current position of the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When an information processing apparatus for personal use, for example, a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a "PC") is to be connected to the Internet, it is usually contracted with a commercial provider that provides a line connection service to the Internet. After exchanging, a communication link to the Internet is established by selecting any one of a number of access points (phone numbers for line connection) provided by the provider and making a telephone connection therewith. .

[0003] This makes it possible to search and acquire information provided by, for example, a WWW server connected to the Internet. In addition, various information can be provided from a server installed by the commercial provider itself, and e-mail can be performed with another PC via a mail server.

In this case, the communication charge to be paid by the user is the communication charge to the access point to which the PC has made a telephone connection at that time. Therefore, commercial providers constantly increase the number of access points to reduce the burden of communication charges on customers.

[0005] A desktop PC having a modem (modem) is used in a fixed place, so when connecting it to the Internet, a user usually uses the same PC at the time of setting the first line connection. The nearest access point in the city is selected and stored in a hard disk drive (HDD), etc., and the next time the line is connected, the telephone is automatically connected to the same access point selected at the time of this setting. I was supposed to.

However, in recent years, simple portable telephones (PH
A portable information terminal device (hereinafter, referred to as a portable terminal device) having a wireless communication function such as a personal handyphone system (S: Personal Handyphone System) has been commercialized and used, and the use place is not limited to one place. Computing is now possible. Since the portable terminal device has a modem for connecting to the Internet, it is possible to connect to the Internet via an access point of a provider even outdoors.

[0007]

As described above, when trying to connect the portable terminal device to the Internet while moving away from the usual place of use, the user needs to access many access points installed by the commercial provider to which the contract is made. Of these, it is not always possible to know which access point is closest to the current position. This is because the user may not be aware of the location or may not have information on the nearest access point from the location. Furthermore, depending on where you move,
Performing the operation of changing the setting of the access point may be complicated. In such a case, the user connects to the access point selected at the time of the first telephone connection setting to the provider even in such a destination. As a result, a telephone connection is made to a remote access point, and a high communication fee is paid.

An object of the present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and when an attempt is made to connect a portable terminal device to the Internet at a destination different from the usual place of use, the nearest access point is provided. Is presented on the display device of the portable terminal device to inform the user.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a portable terminal device connected to a communication network is provided with position information acquiring means for acquiring own position information and an access point. Connecting a communication line with the communication network, transmitting the position information of the self obtained by the position information obtaining means to an information providing device connected to the communication network, and selecting the nearest location selected based on the position information Communication means for receiving the telephone number information of the access point from the one or other information providing devices, and display means for displaying the telephone number information obtained from the information providing device via the communication means. It is characterized by the following.

[0010] Further, as another configuration of the present portable terminal device for solving the above-mentioned problems, a position information obtaining means for obtaining own position information and a communication link with the communication network via an access point are established. Communication means for requesting the information providing apparatus connected to the communication network to transmit list data of access points, receiving the list data of the access points from the information providing apparatus, and storing the list data in a storage means in the own apparatus And display means for displaying the telephone number of the nearest access point selected from the received list data based on the own location information acquired by the location information acquisition means. .

[0011] On the other hand, in an information providing apparatus connected to a communication network according to the present invention, storage means for storing list data of access points for a portable terminal device establishing a communication link with the communication network; Receiving the position information of the mobile terminal device transmitted from the mobile terminal device, and transmitting the telephone number information of the nearest access point to the communication network selected from the list data based on the position information to the mobile terminal; Communication means for transmitting to the terminal device. Further, as another configuration of the present information providing device that solves the above-described problem, a storage unit that stores list data of access points for a mobile terminal device that establishes a communication link with the communication network, Communication means for receiving a list data transfer request and transmitting the access point list data to the portable terminal device in response to the transfer request.

[0012]

[Action]

As described above, the portable terminal device of the present invention knows its current position by the position information acquisition means. Then, the telephone number of the access point closest to the current position is selected from the telephone number list data of the access points in the information providing apparatus and displayed. by this,
The user of the portable terminal device will know the nearest access point provided by the commercial provider even in an unfamiliar place.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the general outline of a communication network including the public communication network and the Internet to which the portable terminal device according to the present invention is connected.

The portable terminal device 10 is provided with a so-called PDA (Per-sonal Digital Assistant) such as a scheduler and an address book.
base station 11 (base stations 11-1, 11-2, 11) which has a wireless telephone communication function such as PHS in addition to the function as a stance) and is installed by a communication carrier that operates a wireless telephone business.
-3 and the like are collectively referred to as a base station 11. (The same applies to the notation of the exchange 12, PC 16, and access point 17 described below.) It is possible to communicate by radio waves with the nearest base station 11. Each base station 11
IS via the exchange (or mobile communication controller) 12
It is connected to a public communication network 15 such as a DN. Thus, the mobile terminal device 10 can connect the communication line to the public communication network 15.

The public communication network 15 is provided with an access point 17 comprising a modem and a communication server in the Internet provider 23 and a server having a database 14 (information provision) via the provider communication network 21. Device 13 is connected. The server 13 is connected to the public communication network 15 via many access points 17. The mobile terminal device 10 is a server 1
By accessing or via this, it is possible to obtain various types of information and data and to receive communication services such as e-mail.

The public communication network 15 is connected to the Internet 24 via a communication network 21 owned by a provider 23 that provides a connection to a communication network including the Internet. It can also be said that the public communication network 15 itself forms part of the Internet 24. This allows
The mobile terminal device 10 can establish a communication link with the provider 23 via the nearest base station 11 and access the Internet.

In this way, the mobile terminal device 10 connected to the Internet can access the Internet 24 through the gateway 22 used by the provider 23. The mobile terminal device 10 has many WWW servers 25 connected to the Internet 24.
The information provided by any one of the WWW servers can be searched and obtained, and further, communication with other processing devices 26 connected to the Internet 24 by e-mail or the like can be performed. The mobile terminal device 10 includes a provider communication network 21
An address management service for the portable terminal device 10 to make an Internet connection via the provider 23 from the server 13 connected to the
6 and the other client PCs 26 or mobile terminal devices can receive e-mail services and information provision services. As shown in FIG.
The provider 23 receives a request for connection to the Internet from the PC 16 or the mobile terminal device 10 via its own provider communication network 21. The provider communication network 21 is usually provided with a number of access points 17. The provider 23 is constantly increasing the number of access points 17 as much as possible in each area.
This is to allow users scattered over a wide area to be connected to access points as close as possible to reduce the burden of communication charges on the users.

Since the desktop type PC 16 is normally used in a fixed place, when trying to connect it to the Internet, the user normally connects the line to the same access point set at the time of the first line connection setting. . For example, the PC 16-1 normally makes a telephone connection from its installation location to the nearest access point 17-6.

However, since the portable terminal device 10 is used at a remote location and is not fixed, the nearest access point is not fixed. For example, in the example of FIG. 1, when the base station 11-1 is used in a normal use place as a receiving base station, the nearest access point is 17-5, and the base station 11-1 at the moving point is used. It is assumed that the nearest access point whose reception base station is 7 is 17-1. In this case, if the line is connected to the destination while keeping the access point set in the portable terminal device 17-5 at 17-5, the line is connected to the nearest access point 17-1 at that time. In comparison with the case, a higher communication fee will be incurred.

According to the present invention, in such a case, the telephone number of the nearest access point 17-1 to the destination is to be displayed on the display device of the portable terminal device 10.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the external appearance of the portable terminal device 10 according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows an example of its configuration.

The portable terminal device 10 here is a PDA
It is a small and portable information processing device having a telephone function by PHS in addition to the function as a function. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the external appearance is a simplified type mobile phone, but as shown in FIG. 3, the configuration has an internal configuration as a PDA.

In FIG. 3, a CPU (Central Processi
ng Unit: central processing unit) 31 is a ROM (Read On)
ly Memory (read only memory) 32 executes various information processing according to a program stored in the memory. RAM
(Randam Access Memory: random access memory) 33 stores data necessary for the CPU 31 to perform information processing and information and data transmitted from the outside as appropriate. The input unit 36 includes a key, a button, a switch, a jog dial, or the like, and gives a predetermined information input and information processing instruction to the portable terminal device. In addition, the input unit 36 includes a microphone so that a voice conversation (telephone function) can be performed. Audio output unit 3
Reference numeral 9 outputs a voice of a conversation of the other party or a voice signal generated in the apparatus by a speaker.

Since the portable terminal device 10 is basically operated by a battery, the display unit 35 is constituted by a display device with low power consumption such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and displays not only character information but also figures and images. Can be displayed.

The communication circuit 38 includes an antenna 37, is composed of a transmission unit and a reception unit, forms a communication link with the nearest base station 11, and can perform bidirectional communication by radio waves.

The position information acquiring section 20 is for acquiring the position where the portable terminal device is currently located, for example, based on the ID number of the base station at the time of use, and there are various technical ones. . This will be described later in detail.

The display unit 35, the audio output unit 39,
Input unit 36, communication circuit 38, and position information acquisition unit 20
Are connected to the CPU 31 and the like via respective interfaces.

Next, an example of the configuration of the server 13 is shown in FIG.
The functions of the CPU 41, the ROM 42, and the RAM 43 are the same as those described above in the portable terminal device 10. The server 13 has a hard disk drive 48. The hard disk drive 48 is a storage device that can store various programs and files, information and data including large-capacity images, and can read them out as needed. These data and programs can be written into the RAM 43 as needed to perform various types of information processing. The input unit 47 includes a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, and gives an instruction for causing the server 13 to perform various types of information processing. The interface 45 performs interface processing to internal buses of various circuits and devices. The display unit 46 is configured by a CRT, an LCD, or the like, and displays characters, graphics, and images. The communication circuit 44 has a communication function of transmitting and receiving data and the like to and from the Internet via the public communication network 15.

Transmission and reception and processing of a signal for presenting an access point according to the present invention are performed between the portable terminal device 10 and the server 13 having the above hardware configuration.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a processing sequence when the nearest access point is selected on the server 13 side and transmitted to the portable terminal device 10.

The portable terminal device 10 first obtains its own current position information by the position information obtaining unit 20. Then, a line connection request is made to the server 13 in the provider 23 (S1). The server 13 confirms the line connection after confirming the user ID and the like (S2). The mobile terminal device 10 notifies the server 13 that the request is for access point information (S3). The server 13 requests transmission of the position information acquired by the mobile terminal device 10 (S4). In response, the mobile terminal device 10 transmits the position information (S5). The location information in this case is
If the communication means of the mobile terminal device 10 is a PHS, it is the ID number of the receiving base station or the latitude and longitude information of the base station as described later. The server 13 selects the telephone number of the nearest access point 17 from the telephone number list table of the access points 17 installed by the provider based on the transmitted location information. Here, the nearest access point 17 does not necessarily mean that it is based on the physical distance. For the purpose of the present invention, for example, it refers to an access point 17 that can make a telephone call at the lowest communication rate in the same city. Note that the telephone number list data of the access point 17 is updated every time there is a change such as the addition of an access point.

The telephone number of the nearest access point 17 thus selected is transmitted to the portable terminal device 10 (S6), stored in the RAM 33 of the portable terminal device 10, and displayed on the display unit 35. . Here, the telephone circuit is disconnected (S7). After that, since the telephone number of the nearest access point is stored in the RAM 33 of the mobile terminal device 10, the user can make an automatic telephone call to the nearest access point displayed on the display unit 35 by a simple operation. Can be done.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of transmission / reception and processing of a signal for presenting an access point according to the present invention. Here, the nearest access point is selected on the mobile terminal device 10 side.

The portable terminal device 10 first obtains its own current position information by the position information obtaining unit 20. Further, the server 13 stores a list table of access points to the provider in its own hard disk device 48. This list data is updated every time there is a change such as the addition of an access point.

In such a situation, the portable terminal device 10
Sends a line connection request to the server 13 (S1).
1). The server 13 confirms the line connection after confirming the user ID and the like (S12). The mobile terminal device 10
The server 13 is requested to transmit the latest access point telephone number list data (S13). In response, the server 13 sends the telephone number list data of the access point to the mobile terminal device 10 (S1).
4). The mobile terminal device 10 stores the transmitted telephone number list data in its own RAM 33. Upon termination of the storing process, the telephone circuit is disconnected (S15). Then, the mobile terminal device 10 selects the nearest access point from the stored access point telephone number list table based on the location information of the mobile terminal device 10 that has been acquired in advance, and stores the telephone number as shown in FIG. It is displayed. The criterion for selecting the nearest access point is the same as that described with reference to FIG. 5, and is based on the identity of the area code and the local code.

In the sequence shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the telephone connection from the portable terminal device 10 to the server 13 for obtaining the telephone number of the nearest access point requires a very short communication connection time. From the end, it is conceivable that the provider side bears the communication fee as a free dial as part of the service to the connection contractor by the commercial provider.

In this way, the user of the portable terminal device can automatically make a telephone call to the telephone number of the nearest access point displayed on the display section 35 by a simple operation.

Here, the position information acquisition unit 20 in the information terminal device 10 will be described. There are various specific technical means for acquiring position information at present.

In a portable terminal device having a digital telephone function such as a PHS, it is possible to roughly know its own current position by knowing the ID number of the base station at the time of telephone communication. For example, in PHS, FIG.
As shown in the figure, base stations 11 are arranged in each area having a radius of about 100 meters. Each base station 11 communicates with the information terminal device 10 located in its jurisdiction area by radio waves. Applying this to FIG. 1, assuming that the mobile terminal device 10 at the position A receives the strongest electric field strength of the radio wave transmitted from the device and the receiving base station is 11-1, the device is ,
It is determined that it is located in the jurisdiction area of the base station 11-1. Then, at the destination, the receiving base station receiving the strongest electric field strength of the radio wave transmitted from the device is 11
If it is -7, it is determined that the device is located in the area under the control of the base station 11-7.

Each base station is assigned an identification number (hereinafter referred to as a base station ID) for identifying the base station in advance, and the position data of each base station is known. By assuming that the current position of the information terminal device 10 is the base station position, the position of each information terminal device 10 can be known more easily.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a table indicating the position data of each base station. In this correspondence table, the position of each base station specified by the ID number is indicated by latitude (north latitude) and longitude (east longitude). The table is stored in, for example, the storage device of the server 13 in the example of the sequence of FIG. 5 and the RA of the mobile terminal device 10 in the example of the sequence of FIG.
It is stored in advance in M33.

In the case of FIG. 5, the position information acquisition section 20 of the portable terminal device 10 acquires the base station ID from the base station 11 and transmits it to the server 13, which is shown in FIG. The position data of the receiving base station is obtained by referring to the table.

In the case of the sequence shown in FIG. 6, when the communication link with the base station 11 is established, the position information acquiring section 20 of the portable terminal device 10 transmits the information from the base station to the base station I.
By obtaining D and referring to the table shown in the example of FIG. 8 in the RAM 33, the position data of the receiving base station can be obtained.

As a method of detecting the position of the portable terminal device with high accuracy, a GPS (Global Positioning System) can be used. In this case, the portable terminal device 10
It has an S device, receives a plurality of (usually 3) positioning signals transmitted from low-orbit satellites by a GPS antenna and a receiving circuit, and demodulates the signals. By calculating and calculating the longitude and latitude of the position, it is possible to accurately detect its own current position.

As another position information acquiring means, VICS (V
Vehicle Information and Communication System) is also available. This is a system for providing common information to a moving body such as an automobile by radio waves from a beacon (traffic signal transmitter) installed at a predetermined position on a road. Each beacon also transmits its position information. VICS
By detecting the position of the beacon by demodulating the radio wave received via the receiving antenna by the demodulation circuit, the position is determined to be the position of the portable terminal device 10.

As described above, various types of position information acquiring section 20 are conceivable, but any technique can be applied to the present invention.

In this way, the telephone number of the nearest access point is determined, and the telephone number of the nearest access point displayed on the display unit 35 of the portable terminal device 10 as shown in FIG. Automatically make a telephone call. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 9, it may be set so that a telephone connection is made to the displayed telephone number by a predetermined simple operation such as pressing a # button or pushing a jog dial.

[0049]

As described above, according to the portable terminal device of the present invention, when the portable terminal device is connected to the Internet at a destination different from the usual place of use, the nearest access point can be obtained by a simple operation. Can be displayed on the display device of the portable terminal device.

By this means, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the user connects to the access point set at the time of setting the first telephone connection to the provider, and consequently makes a telephone connection to a remote access point and pays a high communication fee. This makes it possible to implement operations such as information search for a WWW server on the Internet, which has a possibility of reaching a lower cost, at a lower communication fee.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an example of the Internet to which a portable terminal device according to the present invention is connected.

FIG. 2 shows an example of an appearance of a portable terminal device.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an internal configuration of the portable terminal device.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an internal configuration of a server.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a sequence for presenting a nearest access point.

FIG. 6 shows another example of a sequence for presenting a nearest access point.

FIG. 7 shows an example of an area under the jurisdiction of a PHS receiving base station.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a location table of a PHS receiving base station.

FIG. 9 is a display example of a nearest access point displayed on a display device of the mobile terminal device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 mobile terminal device 11-n PHS base station 12-n exchange (mobile communication control device) 16-n information processing device 17-n access point 23 provider

Claims (21)

[Claims] 1. A portable terminal device connected to a communication network, comprising: a position information acquisition unit for acquiring own position information; and a communication line connected to the communication network via an access point. The location information acquisition unit transmits the location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit to the information providing apparatus connected to the network, the telephone number information of the nearest access point selected based on the location information, the one or other A mobile terminal device comprising: a communication unit that receives from the information providing device; and a display unit that displays the telephone number information obtained from the information providing device via the communication unit. 2. The portable terminal device according to claim 1, wherein said portable terminal device further comprises an automatic calling means for making a telephone connection to said nearest access point displayed on said display means. 3. The position information acquiring unit acquires a position of the portable terminal device based on an ID number of the base station transmitted from a receiving base station forming a communication link to the communication network. 2. The mobile terminal device according to 1. 4. The mobile terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the position information obtaining means calculates and obtains the position of the mobile terminal device based on a positioning signal transmitted from a satellite constituting GPS. 5. A portable terminal device connected to a communication network, comprising: a position information acquisition unit for acquiring own position information; and a communication line connected to the communication network via an access point. Communication means for transmitting the own location information acquired by the location information acquisition means to the information provision apparatus connected to the network, and receiving the nearest access point selected by the information provision apparatus based on the location information And a display unit for displaying the nearest access point obtained from the information providing device via the communication unit. 6. The position information acquiring unit acquires a position of the portable terminal device based on an ID number of the base station transmitted from a receiving base station forming a communication link to the communication network. 6. The mobile terminal device according to 5. 7. The mobile terminal device according to claim 5, wherein the position information obtaining means calculates and obtains the position of the mobile terminal device based on a positioning signal transmitted from a satellite constituting GPS. 8. A portable terminal device connected to a communication network, comprising: a position information acquisition unit for acquiring own position information; and establishing a communication link with the communication network via an access point. A communication unit for requesting transmission of list data of an access point to the information providing device connected to the device, receiving the list data of the access point from the information providing device, and storing the received data in a storage unit in the own device; Display means for displaying a telephone number of a nearest access point selected from the received list data based on the position information of the self acquired by the position information acquisition means. Terminal device. 9. The portable terminal device according to claim 8, wherein said portable terminal device further comprises an automatic calling means for making a telephone connection to said nearest access point displayed on said display means. 10. A portable terminal device connected to a communication network, comprising: a position information acquisition means for acquiring own position information; and a communication line connected to the communication network via an access point. A communication unit that requests information provision of access point list data to a providing device, and a communication unit that receives the access point list data from the information providing device; and a storage unit that stores the list data received by the communication unit. Display means for displaying, from the list data of the access points stored in the storage means, a nearest access point selected from its own current position acquired by the position information acquiring means. A portable terminal device characterized by the above-mentioned. 11. An information providing apparatus connected to a communication network, comprising: storage means for storing data of a list of access points for a mobile terminal device establishing a communication link with the communication network; The transmitted position information of the mobile terminal device is received, and the telephone number information of the nearest access point to the communication network selected from the list data based on the position information is transmitted to the mobile terminal device. An information providing device comprising: a communication unit. 12. The information providing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the list data of the access points stored in the storage unit is updated according to a change such as addition of an access point. 13. An information providing apparatus connected to a communication network, comprising: storage means for storing list data of access points for a mobile terminal device establishing a communication link with the communication network; A communication unit that receives the list data transfer request, and transmits the access point list data to the portable terminal device in response to the transfer request;
An information providing device comprising: 14. A method for presenting an access point to a communication network in a mobile terminal device connected to a communication network including an information providing device, comprising the steps of: obtaining own current position information; Transmitting the current position information of the own device to one of the information providing devices; anda telephone number of a nearest access point selected based on the position information from the one or the other information providing devices. A method of presenting an access point to a communication network, comprising the steps of: receiving; and displaying the telephone number information of the nearest access point on its own display means. 15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising, after the step of displaying the telephone number information of the nearest access point on its own display means, a step of automatically calling the telephone to the nearest access point. Method of presenting access points to a communication network. 16. A method for presenting an access point to a communication network in a portable terminal device connected to a communication network including an information providing device, comprising the steps of: acquiring own current position information; Requesting the information providing apparatus to transmit list data of access points, receiving the list data of access points from the information providing apparatus, and downloading the list data to storage means in the own apparatus, Selecting a nearest access point from the received list data based on the current position information of the selected access point; and displaying telephone number information of the selected access point. Presentation method. 17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising, after the step of displaying the telephone number information of the nearest access point on its own display means, a step of making an automatic call for telephone connection to the nearest access point. A method for presenting an access point to a communication network. 18. A method for presenting an access point to a communication terminal for a mobile terminal device by an information providing device connected to the communication network, wherein a list of access points for the mobile terminal device establishing a communication link with the communication network is provided. Storing the data, receiving the position information of the mobile terminal device transmitted from the mobile terminal device, based on the received position information of the mobile terminal device,
Selecting a nearest access point to the communication network from the list data; and transmitting a telephone number of the nearest access point to the portable terminal device. . 19. A method for presenting an access point to a communication network in a mobile terminal device connected to a communication network including an information providing device, comprising: an access point for a mobile terminal device establishing a communication link with the communication network; Storing list data, receiving a transfer request for the list data from the mobile terminal device, and transmitting list data of the access point to the mobile terminal device in response to the transfer request And a method for presenting an access point to a communication network comprising: 20. A method for presenting an access point to a communication network to a mobile terminal device in a mobile terminal device connected to a communication network and an information providing device, wherein the mobile terminal device acquires its own current location information. hand,
The current position information is transmitted to one information providing device via a predetermined access point to the communication network, and the information providing device transmits the transmitted current position information of the portable terminal device. Based on the, select the nearest access point from the list data of access points stored in advance in the storage means in its own device, and transmit the telephone number information of the access point, The mobile terminal device, A method for presenting an access point to a communication network, comprising displaying transmitted telephone number information on display means in the own device. 21. A mobile terminal device connected to a communication network and a method for presenting an access point to the communication network to the mobile terminal device in the information providing device, wherein the mobile terminal device acquires its own current location information. Requesting transmission of list data of access points to one of the information providing apparatuses via a predetermined access point to the communication network, and the information providing apparatus, in response to the transmission request, Transmitting the access point list data stored in advance in the storage means to the portable terminal device, the portable terminal device receives the transmitted access point list data, and stores the access point list data in its own device. Means for downloading to the communication network from the list data based on the current position information of the communication device. And selecting the nearest access point and displaying the telephone number information of the nearest access point on its own display means.