JPH11289567A - Method and device for transmission to radio reception terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable to stop the transmission of a specified service to a terminal even without performing the contract cancel procedure of that service. SOLUTION: A central station 4 of transmission equipment 11 receives communication signals belonging to plural kinds of services from a telephone set 1 or 2 of a call originating device through a communication network 3. When transmitting communication information to a radio reception terminal 9 contracting for any service, it is recorded how many times the kind of the service to which this communication information is belonging is cumulatively transmitted to each reception terminal 9. When the cumulative number of times of transmission reaches the previously specified limit number of times at the time of contacting with the user of each reception terminal 9 for the service, afterwards, the transmission of the communication information belonging to that service to that reception terminal 9 is stopped.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transmission method and a transmission device to a radio reception terminal, and more particularly to a transmission method and a transmission device for limiting the number of transmissions to a radio reception terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recent radio pagers include:
Some devices have a function of displaying a text message as well as a function of notifying a terminal owner of a call from a caller by emitting a beep sound. By using this message display function, various information providers become senders, and services for providing various information such as news to terminal users have been started. These services can be classified into various types according to the type of information (for example, weather, economic news, etc.) and the type of information provider. When the user of the wireless calling terminal makes a contract for receiving these services at a sales office of a communication service company, an information provider corresponding to the contract transmits the corresponding information. The transmitted information is received by the central office via the communication network of the communication service company, transferred from the central office to the base station, and transmitted from the base station to the wireless calling terminal.

[0003]

At present, when a user of a radio paging terminal wants to stop receiving a certain service, he or she must go to the office of a communication service company and perform a procedure for canceling the contract. No. In response to the cancellation of the contract, the communication service company stops further transmission of communication information of the service to the owner. But,
This is not only troublesome for the owner of the terminal, but also requires a procedure for changing the transmission schedule for the communication service company, which is troublesome.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and without performing a contract cancellation procedure of a specific service,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a transmission method and a transmission device to a wireless reception terminal that can stop transmission of the service to the terminal.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a method for transmitting to a wireless receiving terminal according to the present invention is a method for transmitting communication information belonging to a plurality of types of services received from a plurality of transmitting devices to the above-mentioned services. A method for transmitting to a contracted wireless receiving terminal, wherein (a) transmitting communication information to the wireless receiving terminal, and (b) accumulating the type of service to which the transmitted communication information belongs to the wireless receiving terminal. The number of transmissions is recorded, and (c) it is determined whether or not the cumulative number of transmissions has reached a predetermined number of times for the wireless receiving terminal for each type of the service. The transmission of the communication information belonging to the type of service to the wireless receiving terminal is stopped when the cumulative number of times of transmission has been reached. According to this method, for each service specified by the user of the wireless receiving terminal, the number of transmissions is limited to a predetermined number of times. Therefore, transmission of the service to the terminal can be stopped when the limited number of services is reached without performing the communication contract cancellation procedure, so that both the user of the wireless receiving terminal and the communication service company can do so. It is convenient and hassle-free.

[0006] The process (b) may be performed after the process (a), or conversely, the radio reception to be transmitted in the process (a) before the process (a). The step (b) may be performed by calculating the cumulative number of transmissions of the communication information to the terminal.

[0007] A transmitting device to a wireless receiving terminal according to the present invention is a receiving means for receiving communication signals belonging to a plurality of types of services from a plurality of transmitting devices via a communication network, and is capable of transmitting to a plurality of wireless receiving terminals. Transmitting means for transmitting the communication information included in the communication signal by designating a wireless receiving terminal subscribed to the service, and each of the wireless receiving terminals for the type of service to which the transmitted communication information belongs Cumulative transmission number recording means for recording the cumulative number of transmissions of the communication information to the wireless communication terminal; limit number recording means for recording a predetermined number of times for each of the wireless receiving terminals for each type of service; For each type of
For each of the wireless receiving terminals, determining means for determining whether the cumulative number of transmissions has reached the limited number of times, and when determining that the cumulative number of times of transmission has reached the limited number of times, Stopping means for stopping transmission of the communication information belonging to the type of service to the wireless receiving terminal by the transmitting means.

When the capacity of information to be transmitted to the wireless receiving terminal by the transmitting means exceeds a certain ratio with respect to the information capacity transmittable to the wireless receiving terminal by the transmitting means, the information is temporarily stored. The information processing apparatus may further include a temporary storage unit that stores the information, and the transmission unit may read out the information from the temporary storage unit in a plurality of times and transmit the information. As described above, by temporarily storing information and transmitting the information in a plurality of times, the reliability of transmission is improved. Therefore, it is possible to guarantee transmission up to the limited number of times.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1. FIG. 1 shows a basic configuration of a radio paging system to which the present invention is applied. This paging system includes a central office 4 and a plurality of base stations 8 connected to the central office 4 via inter-station communication lines 10. The central office 4 is connected to a communication network 3, which is a public telephone network or a packet network.

The communication network 3 is connected to a large number of push-button telephones (transmission devices) 1 and data processing / communication terminals (transmission devices) 2. The data processing / communication terminal 2
For example, a personal computer, a packet terminal, an e-mail terminal, or the like is provided with an input device such as a keyboard. The user can input and transmit numbers and messages using the input device.

[0011] The base station 8 can transmit a radio signal into a radio service area in charge. Each wireless service area has a plurality of wireless calling terminals (wireless receiving terminals) 9.
Exist, and any of them can receive a wireless signal transmitted from the base station 8 through a wireless communication channel.

Each receiving terminal 9 includes a receiving antenna, a processor for processing a received radio signal, a memory, and a speaker. When the received radio signal specifies its own terminal, Beep on the speaker. Each receiving terminal 9 includes a character generator and a display device such as a liquid crystal display device. When a wireless signal designating the own terminal includes a message signal,
The message signal can be converted into message data by referring to the conversion table stored in the memory, and a text message can be displayed on the display device.

The user of the telephone 1 can operate the push button to specify the calling number of the receiving terminal 9 to be contacted and to input a message signal. The message signal is generated by the user successively pressing numbers and symbols that can be input with a push button, is a signal representing a series of numbers and symbols, and corresponds to a text message displayed on the receiving terminal 9.

The user of the data processing / communication terminal 2 can also operate the input device to specify the call number of the receiving terminal 9 to which he / she wants to contact and to input a message signal. The message signal in this case is a signal representing a character string input by the input device, and also corresponds to a character message displayed on the receiving terminal 9.

The central office 4 comprises a central control unit 5 and a storage unit 6
And a transmission unit 7. The central controller 5 makes a voice response to the telephone 1 and the data processing / communication terminal 2 on the calling side, and converts a designated calling number from these to an address signal which is a receiver identification signal in the wireless service area. Then, a selective calling signal is generated by encoding the address signal and the message signal together. The selective call signal is transmitted to the base station 8 via a transmitting unit 7 such as a modem.

The base station 8 converts the selective calling signal into a radio signal. Then, all the base stations 8 transmit the radio signals all at once. The receiving terminal 9 determines an address signal included in the received wireless signal, and emits a beep sound from the speaker when the address signal specifies itself. Further, the receiving terminal 9 decodes a message signal from a wireless signal including an address signal designating itself, and displays a text message.
Therefore, in this radio paging system, the central station 4 and the base station 8 constitute a transmission system, that is, a transmission device 11.

2. Wireless paging method according to the embodiment Some of the users of the telephone 1 and the data processing / communication terminal 2 use the character display function of the receiving terminal 9 to give the terminal user of the receiving terminal 9 various kinds of news and the like. There are businesses that provide the information. These services can be classified into various types according to the type of information (for example, weather, economic news, etc.) and the type of information provider.

When the user of the wireless calling terminal makes a contract for receiving these services at the office of the communication service company, the information provider corresponding to the contract transmits the corresponding information. That is, in a regular or emergency situation, the business operator uses his / her own telephone 1 or data processing / communication terminal 2 to specify the call number of the receiving terminal 9 of the contract user and to send a transmission request including a predetermined message signal. Send a signal. In response to this, a radio signal is transmitted from the transmission device 11, and the contract user can visually recognize the message displayed on his / her own reception terminal 9. Further, when the carrier makes a transmission request, a code specifying the type of service according to the contract is included in the message signal.

The user of each receiving terminal 9 can use the receiving terminal 9 by making a contract with a communication service company in charge of transmission of the central station 4 and the base station 8. At the time of this contract, the user can specify the number of times the receiving terminal 9 can be called. When this designation is made, the central office 4 performs paging transmission to the receiving terminal 9 up to the specified limit number, and when the paging transmission number reaches the limit number, does not perform paging transmission thereafter.

Further, at the time of contract, the user can designate the number of times the service provided by each of the above information providers is limited. The central station 4 transmits the service to the receiving terminal 9 up to the specified limit number of times,
When the number of transmissions reaches the limited number of times, transmission for the service is not performed to the receiving terminal 9 thereafter.

When the contract is completed, the communication service company registers the contractor information in the storage device 6 of the central office 4. The contractor information includes a receiver number, a service type, and a specified number of times of the service specified by the user. By this registration processing, the management table shown in Table 1 is stored in the storage device 6. As is clear from Table 1, the management table contains the receiver number, the type of service specified by the user, the number of times the service has been specified by the user, the cumulative number of transmissions for each service to the user, and the availability of transmission. Is described.

[0022]

[Table 1]

Regarding the management table of this example, the cumulative number of transmissions is not the number of actual transmissions but the number of transmission requests specifying each receiving terminal 9 from the telephone 1 or the data processing / communication terminal 2. The term “all transmission” refers to all call transmissions performed by the communication service company using the transmission device 11, and the service 1 or the like refers to transmission of a service by an information provider different from the communication service company. For example,
For the receiving terminal corresponding to the second call number from the top of the management table, the limit number of all call transmissions (call limit number) is 10000, and the cumulative number of transmissions of all transmissions (cumulative transmission request number) up to this time. Is 4508 times and transmission is still possible. For service 1, the limit number of times of call transmission is 1000 times, and the cumulative number of transmission requests is 1003.
And the subsequent transmission is not possible. Regarding the service 2, the number of times of calling transmission is limited to 300 and the cumulative number of transmission requests is 251 and the subsequent transmission is possible.

Next, the transmission procedure performed by the transmission device 11 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, when the central control device 5 of the central office 4 receives a transmission request signal from the telephone 1 or the data processing / communication terminal 2 (step Sa1), it detects a call number and a service type from the transmission request signal (step Sa2). , Sa3). Then, referring to the management table in the storage device 6, it is determined whether or not the service requested to be transmitted for the detected call number has a limit on the number of transmissions (steps Sa4 and Sa).
5). In the determination of step Sa5, it is also determined whether or not there is a limit on the number of times of the total call transmission for the detected call number.

If the decision result in the step Sa5 is "NO", the process proceeds to a step Sa6 to execute a transmitting process. That is, the central control unit 5 of the central office 4 converts the call number into an address signal, generates a selective call signal by encoding the address signal and the message signal together, and sends the selective call signal to the base station 8. Send out. In response, all the base stations 8 convert the selective calling signal into a radio signal and transmit the radio signal all at once. Transmission of the radio signal from the base station 8 is repeated a plurality of times in consideration of the reception failure.
Then, the user of the receiving terminal 9 can receive the call when the received wireless signal specifies the own terminal, and can visually recognize the message in some cases. After the end of the transmission process in step Sa6, the process returns to step Sa1.

On the other hand, if the result of the determination in step Sa5 is "YE
If "S", the process proceeds to step Sa7, where the central controller 5 sets the cumulative transmission count (cumulative transmission request count) relating to the service or all paging transmissions in the management table to 1
Then, the management table is updated and recorded in the storage device 6. Next, it is determined whether the cumulative number of transmissions of the service (or all call transmissions) is equal to or less than the transmission limit number of the service (or all call transmissions) (step Sa8).

If the decision result in the step Sa8 is "YES", the process advances to a step Sa6 to execute a transmitting process. As described above, in the transmission process, the base station 8 repeatedly transmits a radio signal of the same information. However, since the cumulative number of transmissions in the management table counts the number of transmission requests,
The repetitive transmission of the base station 8 is irrelevant to the count of the cumulative number of transmissions.

On the other hand, if the result of the determination in step Sa8 is "N
If "O", the process proceeds to step Sa9, and a response is sent to the telephone 1 or the data processing / communication terminal 2 that has transmitted the transmission request, indicating that transmission is not to be performed. In this case, in the management table, if the distinction of whether or not transmission of the service or all call transmissions is possible for the call number is "YES", this is set to "NO" and updated and recorded. Thereafter, the transmission according to the transmission request is not performed, and Step Sa is performed.
Return to 1.

Note that the determination in step Sa8 is made for the first time by "N
O ”, that is, for a certain receiving terminal 9,
When the cumulative transmission count of a service exceeds the transmission limit count for the first time, the receiving terminal 9 has a message signal indicating that the number of contracts for receiving the service has ended and an address signal designating the receiving terminal 9. The central control device 5 generates a selective call signal including the following, and transfers it to the base station 8. In response to this, the base station 8 transmits a radio signal, so that the user of the receiving terminal 9 can know the end of the number of contracts.

According to this method. The number of transmissions of all paging transmissions is limited to a predetermined number of times. Also,
For each service specified by the user of the wireless receiving terminal, the number of transmissions is limited to a predetermined number of times. Therefore, even if you do not perform the communication contract cancellation procedure, when the number of times of all call transmissions and services is reached,
Since the transmission of all calls to the terminal and the transmission related to the service can be stopped, it is convenient and convenient for both the user of the wireless receiving terminal and the communication service company.

3. Example of Modification of Radio Calling Method According to Embodiment In the above-described transmission procedure, the process of updating and recording the cumulative transmission count (step Sa7) is performed after the comparison determination process with the transmission limit count (step Sa8). As shown in FIG. 3, the order of steps Sa7 and Sa8 may be reversed. In FIG. 2, it is determined in step Sa8 whether the cumulative number of transmissions is equal to or less than the transmission limit number. However, in the case of FIG. 3, it may be determined whether the cumulative number of transmissions is less than the transmission limit number.

After completion of the transmission process in step Sa6, the process of updating and recording the cumulative number of transmissions is performed (step Sa7).
May be performed. Also in this case, as in FIG. 3, in the comparison determination process with the transmission limit number, it may be determined whether the accumulated transmission number is less than the transmission limit number. In this case, the number of times of transmission of the selective call signal from the central station 4 to the base station 8 may be used as the cumulative number of transmissions instead of the number of transmission requests.

Further, in the management table recorded in the storage device 6 of the central office 4 of the transmission device 11, the service for each call number or the distinction of whether transmission of all call transmissions is permitted or not is described. The processing may be replaced with the transmission permission / inhibition determination processing recorded in the management table.

Further, since the relationship between the call number and the service is described in the management table, the service provider omits the designation of the call number of the contractor when transmitting the transmission request signal, and simply designates the service. Alternatively, a signal indicating the type may be included in the transmission request signal and transmitted. The transmission procedure performed by the transmission device 11 in this case will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, when the central control unit 5 of the central office 4 receives a transmission request signal from the telephone 1 or the data processing / communication terminal 2 (step Sb1), it detects the type of service from the transmission request signal (step Sb2). ). Then, referring to the management table in the storage device 6, one call number to be transmitted is specified based on the detected service type (steps Sb3, Sb4).

Next, it is determined whether or not the number of transmissions is limited in the service requested to be transmitted for the specified call number (step Sb5). In the determination of step Sb5, it is also determined whether or not there is a limit on the number of times of the total call transmission for the specified call number.

If the decision result in the step Sb5 is "NO", the process proceeds to a step Sb6 to execute a transmission process. After the end of the transmission process in step Sb6, the process proceeds to step Sb9, and based on the type of service specified in the transmission request signal, determines whether there is another call number to receive the service. If the decision result in the step Sb9 is "YES", the process returns to the step Sb4 to specify the next call number. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step Sb9 is "NO", the process returns to the step Sb1.

The result of the determination in step Sb5 is "YE
If "S", the process proceeds to step Sb8, where it is determined whether the cumulative number of transmissions of the service (or all call transmissions) is less than the transmission limit number of the service (or all call transmissions) for the call number. I do. If the decision result in the step Sb8 is "YES", the process proceeds to the step Sb7
The central controller 5 increments the cumulative transmission count (cumulative transmission request count) for the service or all paging transmissions in the management table by one, and stores it in the storage device 6.
And updates the management table. Next, the process proceeds to step Sb6 to execute a transmission process.

On the other hand, if the result of the determination in step Sb8 is "N
If “O”, the process proceeds to step Sb9 without executing the transmission process, and determines whether there is another call number to receive the service based on the type of service specified in the transmission request signal. . Further, the calling side does not respond to the call number that the call number is not transmitted.

Note that the determination in step Sb8 is made for the first time by "N
O ”, that is, for a certain receiving terminal 9,
When the cumulative number of transmissions of a certain service matches the transmission restriction number, the receiving terminal 9 receives a message signal indicating that the number of contracts for receiving the service has ended and an address signal designating the receiving terminal 9. The central control unit 5 generates a selective call signal including the selected call signal and transfers the generated signal to the base station 8. In response to this, the base station 8 transmits a radio signal,
The user of the receiving terminal 9 can know the end of the number of contracts.

4. Improvement Regarding Reliability of Transmission By the way, as described above, in the transmission device 11, the number of transmissions is limited, so that a communication service company is required to further improve reliability of transmission. That is, when the number of transmissions reaches the limited number, the receiving terminal 9 is set to be less than the limited number specified in the contract.
It is very unfavorable that the actual number of times received at is small. As described above, the wireless signal is repeatedly transmitted from the base station 8 a plurality of times, but it is necessary to further improve the reliability of the communication.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, a temporary storage memory 12 may be provided in the storage device 6 of the central office 4. When the capacity of information to be transmitted by the base station 8 exceeds a certain ratio with respect to the information capacity that can be transmitted by the base station 8 (the maximum transmission capacity of the wireless channel), the temporary storage memory 12 temporarily stores the information. Stored. For example, it is assumed that three transmission request signals designating the same receiving terminal 9 have been transmitted from different telephones 1 or data processing / communication terminals 2 in three extremely short time periods. If the base station 8 tries to transmit radio signals for three transmission requests simultaneously based on these transmission requests, the transmission capacity of the radio signal may exceed the maximum transmission capacity of the radio channel as shown in FIG. It is possible. Further, the transmission capacity of the radio signal is not limited to the case where a plurality of transmission requests are made to one receiving terminal 9 and the number of transmission request signals to all the receiving terminals 9 in charge of the central office 4 becomes large. It can exceed the maximum transmission capacity of the wireless channel.

Accordingly, the central station 4 temporarily stores the received transmission request signal in the temporary storage memory 12 and waits for a predetermined time (for example, 30 seconds) to temporarily store the transmission request signal.
And reads out the transmission request signal to generate a selective calling signal. The central station 4 is provided with means for estimating the total capacity of the radio signal to be transmitted by the base station 8 from the total capacity of the received transmission request signal.
The central office 4 transfers the selective call signal to the base station 8 so that the transmission information capacity of the base station 8 becomes equal to or less than the maximum transmission capacity of the wireless channel. That is, information is transferred from the central station 4 by selecting a time at which the capacity can be transmitted by the base station 8. For example, at a time interval calculated based on the above prediction,
The selective call signal is transferred to the base station 8 in a plurality of times,
The base station 8 also executes the transmission processing of the radio signal in a plurality of times. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 7, the transmission information capacity at one time becomes equal to or less than the wireless maximum transmission capacity, and the reliability of transmission is improved. Therefore, it is possible for the user of the receiving terminal 9 to guarantee the transmission up to the contracted limited number of times. The transmission information capacity of the base station 8 may be limited to the maximum wireless transmission capacity or less, or may be limited to a threshold value obtained by multiplying the maximum wireless transmission capacity by a constant of 1 or less.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The number of transmissions is limited to a predetermined number of times. Therefore, transmission of the service to the terminal can be stopped without performing the contract cancellation procedure of the specific service, which is convenient and convenient for both the user of the wireless receiving terminal and the communication service company. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a radio call system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation of the transmitting device of the radio paging system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing another example of the operation of the transmitting device of the radio paging system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing another example of the operation of the transmitting device of the radio paging system.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing details of the transmission device.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing a transmission information amount when transmission is performed without providing a temporary storage unit in the transmission device.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing the amount of transmitted information when the transmitting device transmits data by providing a temporary storage unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Telephone (transmission device), 2 ... Data processing / communication terminal (transmission device), 3 ... Communication network, 4 ... Central station, 5 ... Central control device, 6 ... Storage device, 8 ... Base station, 9 ... Wireless reception Terminal (wireless paging terminal), 11: transmitting device, 12: temporary storage memory

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A method for transmitting communication information belonging to a plurality of types of services received from a plurality of transmitting devices to a wireless receiving terminal subscribed to the service, comprising: (a) transmitting the communication information to the wireless receiving terminal; (B) recording the cumulative number of transmissions to the wireless receiving terminal for the type of service to which the communication information to be transmitted belongs; (c) preliminarily defining the wireless receiving terminal for each type of service (D) when the cumulative number of transmissions reaches the limited number of times, the communication information belonging to the service type is transmitted to the wireless receiving terminal. Transmitting to the wireless receiving terminal, wherein the transmission after that is stopped. 2. Before the step (a), the number of times of transmission of the communication information to the wireless receiving terminal to be transmitted in the step (a) is calculated, and the step (b) is performed. The method of transmitting to a wireless receiving terminal according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting is performed. 3. A receiving means for receiving communication signals belonging to a plurality of types of services from a plurality of transmitting devices via a communication network, and communication capable of being transmitted to a plurality of wireless receiving terminals and included in the communication signals. Transmitting means for transmitting information by designating a wireless receiving terminal that has subscribed to the service, and recording the cumulative number of transmissions of the communication information to each of the wireless receiving terminals regarding the type of service to which the transmitted communication information belongs Cumulative transmission count recording means, and a limit count recording means for recording a limit count predefined for each wireless receiving terminal for each type of service; and for each wireless receiving terminal for each type of service. Determining means for determining whether or not the cumulative number of transmissions has reached the limit number; determining that the cumulative number of transmissions has reached the limit number by the determination means It is when was the transmission apparatus to the wireless reception terminal, characterized in that it comprises a stop means for stopping the subsequent transmission by the transmission means to the said radio receiving terminal of the communication information belonging to the type of the service. 4. When the capacity of information to be transmitted to the wireless receiving terminal by the transmitting means exceeds a certain ratio with respect to an information capacity transmittable to the wireless receiving terminal by the transmitting means, the information is temporarily stored. 4. The transmission apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a temporary storage unit that stores the information, wherein the transmission unit reads out the information from the temporary storage unit in a plurality of times and transmits the information.